Page 62 of Noble Neighbor
Inhaling deeply, she opened her eyes.
That way, the sign read. Pinned to the branch right before her eyes, it pointed to the boisterous group. With a final brush of her fingers across her cheeks, she rejoined her daughter’s party.
She had a cake to dismantle and cut.
*
The realization struck after Kenzie’s guests had leftand they were dismantling the party scene. Her epiphanytook her to the ground, and Sunny stared at the cardboard-backed quotes scattered about her until the words jumbled about in her pounding head, and she couldn’t stop the flood of tears from escaping.
Solid arms closed around her, and Frank’s comfortingvoice surrounded her. “That’s it, Sunny-girl. It’s been comin’ for a while. You just let it all out and I’ll sit here with you.”
So she sat beside the man who reminded her of home, of her daddy, and cried until there was nothing left. She accepted the balled-up napkins, wiping her face clean of tears and mucus. Sucking in a breath, she twisted her neck and gave Frank a rueful smile. “Sorry … for the … waterworks.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper, and she needed to clear her throat twice to get the words out.
“Want to talk about it?”
She shook her head.
“I can keep a confidence, darlin’.”
Sunny gave him a long look, searching his craggy features for something, but not sure what. His eyes,Oliver’seyes, were loaded with compassion. With honor. She trusted this man. Completely.
She slumped, her burden suddenly too heavy to carry on her own. “Maybe …” Sunny swallowed, and Frank gently squeezed her hand. “Maybe I can share just a little.”
“I’d be honored, Sunny-girl.”
She managed a soft laugh. “My daddy calls … called me that. You remind me of him. He’s also Texas-born.”
“Is he gone?”
For us, yes.But she couldn’t give Frank that honesty, and she also couldn’t lie, so she evaded. She looked at the scattered quotes and sucked in a ragged breath. “My life, my girls’ lives? It’s all in the quotes.Alice in Wonderlandwas the first book I bought Kenzie after …well, after her father’s death. And I realize now it must’ve been a subconscious purchase on my part.”
Pulling her hand from Frank’s clasp, she reached forward and picked a quote up.“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!”And the next one.“But it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
“In the space of a day, Frank, our lives changed forever,” she murmured, pointed, and quoted.“I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”
She picked up yet another, a longer one, summing up her life over the last few years.“‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where—’ said Alice. ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”
“Sure glad you ended here,” Frank said, rubbing a warm hand across her shoulder. “Isthis your final stop, Sunny?”
“I want it to be.” She leaned farther, picked up and placed the board on her crossed knees. She traced the words. “When we first arrived here, Molly asked if this was our forever home, but, ‘How long is forever? Sometimes just one second.’”
Sunny scrubbed a hand over her face. “My girls have a wonderful life here. One full of potential, far from the dark shadows of the past.”
She swallowed hard, a lump forming in her throat.“So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality.
“I’m scared it’s all going to fall apart, Frank. So damned scared,” she admitted, a fresh sob hovering.
Frank put his arm around her shoulders again and pulled her to him. He brushed a kiss over the top of her head. “You’re not alone.” And then Frank pointed and quoted.“When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.”
She shuddered a deep exhale. “Thank you.”
He lifted a quote lying beside him.“You are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world, and that, I believe, is why you are in so much pain.”He placed a hand underher chin, applied pressure, and met her watery gaze when she was finally brave enough to lift her eyes to him. “You should let Oliver in, Sunny, and share everything.”
“I don’t know how.”
Frank pointed and quoted,“Begin at the beginning ... and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Easy-peasy, Sunny,her conscience added.
