Page 12 of Oblivion

“Pen?”

When I turned my tearful face her way, her expression morphed into alarm. “Oh, God. What happened?”

Sounds broke through the numbed haze as I stood from my car. A pebble crunching beneath my shoe. A bird chirping in a nearby tree. The happy shriek of a child nearby. All combined and constricted my world until I felt suffocated by the air around me.

“Pen, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

Lydia’s grip on my shoulders re-anchored me to the ground. The weight in my heart was killing me. I always thought I’d been the apple of my daddy’s eye. Hearing him spit that he never wanted to have children broke me into a thousand pieces.

Tears welled in my eyes again. “Can I stay for a couple of nights? I need to…” I coughed back a sob.

“Of course,” she replied. “Absolutely. But what the hell happened, babe? You were on top of the world an hour ago.”

Sorrow numbed me. It dampened how I should have been feeling. Shouldn’t I still have been angry? Wanting to run or scream or fight? Not crawl into the nearest crack and simply evaporate.

“Do I look like my dad?” I mumbled.

Lydia scrunched her nose and tucked her chin back. “Huh?”

“Do I look like Paul?”

Pursing her ever-glossed lips, her eyes narrowed. She stared at me as if I was insane.

“Babe, where’s this coming from?”

“Do I, or do I not, Lyd?”

She blinked twice, then made a flippant hand gesture. “Yeah, sure. You look more like your mom, though.”

Forcing myself to meet her eyes, my voice wavered. “Well, I’m… I’m the product of an affair.”

“Thefuck!”

My skin crawled just thinking about my parents having affairs at some point in their marriage. My childhood had become a lie, and while I knew my parents weren’t overly happy together, I was disgusted to the pit of my stomach over the revelations.

“You’re not joking, are you?”

Sadly shaking my head at Lydia, I couldn’t stop my lower lip from quivering. Her expression softened into unconditional love, and when she lifted her arms, I stepped into them with a relieved sob.

“Did you pack anything before you came here?” she murmured.

My cheek pressed against her shoulder as I shook my head again. “No. Only half my shopping from today.”

Lydia snorted. “So you’ve either got heaps of party dresses or sexy underwear.”

“Or a handbag,” I added.

She giggled. “Or a handbag. C’mon, Pen. Let’s get you inside. I’ll grab the bags.”

Murmuring a muted “thank you,” I hovered and beeped the locks on Mini Penny when Lydia had all the shopping bags in hand.

“Thank God you aren’t into bowling or something with heavy lifting involved,” she groaned, lugging them through the little garden gate.

“I can help, Lyd.”

She scoffed and raised a brow. “With those stick arms? Girl, please. I don’t think so.”

Lydia was somewhat immune to deep feelings. They made her awkward and forever searching for ways to lighten the mood. And, bless her, it was exactly what I needed right now.

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