Page 64 of Tucker
“What?”
“Babysittingme?”
“Youare young,” I chuckle.
“You’rethe one who likes to suck on nipples.”
Laughing,I hop into my truck. “Only yours, sweetheart.”
* * * *
Leahpulls at her dress. “Do you think this looks okay?”
Okay?I want to tear it off of her. “You look beautiful,” I assure her.
“Isit appropriate though?” She turns and looks in the mirror.
She’snervous and upset and it doesn’t really have anything to do with the dress.We’re getting ready to go to a memorial being held at the mall where the shootingtook place. Now that the investigation is complete, they want to give thefamily and friends a chance to mourn and say goodbye.
“Sweetheart.”I cup her face in my hands. “It doesn’t matter what you wear. This isn’t afuneral and no one is going to judge. Wear whatever makes you comfortable. I’msure Frannie wouldn’t mind.”
Herentire face lights up when she smiles. “Frannie practically lived in jeans andtee shirts.”
“Thereyou go.”
Whenwe leave a few minutes later, she’s dressed in jeans and a baby blue tee.
IfI’m dreading this, I can’t imagine how hard it is for Leah and the others whosurvived it. She’s chewing her nails to the bone when I park in the lot, and Ibrush her hand away from her face.
Wideeyes meet mine. “I can’t go inside. The elevator. I don’t want to see it. Orthe food court. There was so much blood.”
“Wearen’t going inside. The memorial is being held in the field on the north side.”I point to our right. “See?”
Acrowd is starting to gather and two people are filling balloons from heliumtanks and handing them out. Another person is distributing candles in littlepaper holders. “Leah, if you want to go home…”
“No.I’m all right.” She hops out of the car, and I grab her hand as we walk acrossthe lot.
Theside of the mall is plastered with large pictures of the victims, ranging inage from sixteen to fifty-five. Zoe and Landon approach with Sadie and Justusright behind them. Leah holds up until Zoe walks up to Frannie’s picture andbursts into tears.
Tearsstream down Leah’s face as she rushes to Zoe, and hugs her. Sadie joins themand they just stand there and cry together for a few moments.
Inod at Dare and Justus, and we walk over to get the balloons and candles.
Theman filling the balloons gestures to the table beside him. “Feel free to borrowa marker if you’d like to write on it,” he tells us.
Thegirls each collect a candle to hold, and we all walk toward the back of thefield, letting others through to the balloons and candles.
“Areyou okay?” I ask Leah, and she nods. I hand her a marker and offer the balloon.“Do you want to write anything on it? They’re going to be released at the endof the memorial.”
Placingthe unlit candle at her feet, she writes Frannie’s name on the balloon and thewords Be Happy underneath. “I didn’t know what else to say,” she murmurs,handing me the marker.
“Itsays all it needs to, sweetheart,” I assure her.
Shehands the marker to Zoe and picks the candle back up.
Whoeverplanned the memorial did really well. Friends and family of the victims have achance to talk about their lost loved ones. Frannie’s mother shows up and saysa few words, but she’s too frail to stay long. With candles burning in ourhands, we stand and listen as the lives of twenty-two people are celebrated andtheir unnecessary deaths mourned.
Alump forms in my throat when I realize how easily I could be standing herelooking at a picture of Leah or writing her name on a balloon. Chance. It’sonly by chance that she survived, and I’m so grateful. It’s terrifying howquickly everything can be taken away from you for no reason. Anyone can begoing along with their lives one second and dying on a convenience store floorthe next. I won’t take one second of my life with Leah for granted.
