Come What May - L.K. Farlow Page 0,3
a part of my soul. Like you and your daddy, she was literally all I had. I remember, so vividly, in the weeks after she passed, I wanted to follow after her, if only to bring her back and yell at her for leaving me. I spent weeks in this deep, dark pocket of grief. It felt like a personal affront to me that the world kept turning without her living.
“I was angry and mean and lashed out at anyone who tried to help. Thank God AzzyJo stuck with me, or I might’ve never come around.”
“True story,” Azalea cuts in. “Sister-girl was a damn mess, but look at her now. A business owner, a wife, a mama. It’s okay to miss your daddy and to grieve, but don’t let it swallow you whole.”
“Yeah,” I say hoarsely. “Okay.”
“Are you sure you don’t wanna come stay with Simon and me?” Magnolia asks, kneeling on the floor in front of me so we’re eye level.
Just like the first time she asked, I want so badly to say yes, but some sick and twisted combination of pride and pigheadedness has me declining her offer.
“I promise you won’t be putting us out. We have a guest room and everything.”
“I know y’all do, Mags, but I need to learn to be on my own.”
My cousin stares at me for a beat before rising back to her full height. “If you change your mind, the offer stands, ‘kay?”
The bells over the door tinkle, saving me from having to reply.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Myla Rose says, hopping up from the chair next to me to go to her husband.
“Glad to see you, too, darlin’,” Cash says, wrapping his muscled arms around her. He holds her to his chest with his face pressed into the space between her neck and shoulder. It’s such a tender moment that it makes my heart ache a little more, knowing there’s no one out there to hold me like that.
After he releases her, Cash turns to me. “I’m sorry for your loss, Seraphine. Dave’ll be missed.”
“Thanks,” is all I can squeak out without breaking down again.
“Why don’t we get you home?” Cash holds his hand out, presumably for my keys, which I pass him. He pockets them and extends his arm down again. I stare at it dumbly before Azalea clues me in.
“He’s trying to help you up, girl.”
“Oh.” I feel my cheeks heat to nuclear levels.
I place my hand in his, and he hauls me to standing with ease. And, the gentleman that he is, Cash walks us out to Bertha, Myla’s mint-green Land Cruiser. He opens the passenger door for me before walking his wife around to the driver’s side.
He presses his lips to hers in a completely-indecent-for-public kiss, breaking it only when a random catcall from across the street rings out. “I love you, darlin’. I’ll follow behind.”
“Love you, too,” she replies breathlessly as she joins me in the cab.
A wistful sigh escapes me as she cranks the engine. I hope the sound of the crankshaft turning and the pistons firing is enough to cover it, but luck’s not on my side.
“What’s the sigh for?”
“I don’t know. Nothing… everything?” I shrug and rest my head against the cool glass of the window.
“Talk to me, Seraphine. It’s not healthy to hold it all in.”
“It’s just… between the salon and taking care of Dad, I never really dated or anything. When Dad was healthy, the boys were all scared of him, and when he started getting ill, I just didn’t have the time for it. And now, it’s just… me.”
God, could I sound any more pathetic?
“I’m gonna give you a little tough love, ‘kay?”
“Sure.”
“I was your age when I got pregnant with Brody. I was single and alone and scared shitless. I remember sobbing when I saw those two pink lines. And then I did what Grams would’ve told me to do—I put on my big girl panties, pulled myself up by my bootstraps, and dealt with it.”
“I remember.” I roll my head against the back of the seat to look at her. “But what does that have to do with me?”
“You need to pull yourself up, sister. I know your daddy’s death is fresh and that you’re hurting something fierce. I get it—I do. But I also know Dave wouldn’t want to see you like this.”
I turn back to the window, not wanting to hear her, even though she’s right. If Dad was here, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell me what