Chapter 41
Chapter forty-one
LEE
Idropped Magnolia and Pickle off at Sutton’s apartment, staying for a while to order a few things on that I hoped would make her stay more comfortable.
Losing everything meant losing everything, and while I couldn’t snap my fingers and fix Maggie’s life the way I wanted to, I had to do something.
She’d turned down my parents’ offer to let her stay at their house on Jones Street while she figured out her next move. I couldn’t blame her, but when we were leaving and she was saying goodbye to my parents, it almost felt like she was saying goodbye forever.
“I think we’re good now, Lee. You should probably go,” Sutton said hours after I knew I had worn out my welcome. I’d missed my flight and checked out of the hotel, but I still couldn’t bring myself to leave her side.
“I’ll just say goodbye, then,” I said, giving Sutton a half-assed smile. She was still fuming over what I’d said earlier, and rightfully so. I was an asshole—an asshole who thought, for sure, he was doing the right thing.
I knocked quietly on the spare bedroom in Sutton’s apartment and opened the door slowly. Curled up in a ball, with Pickle sitting up protectively behind her, Magnolia was in a puddle of her own tears.
“I’m going to head out,” I coughed, running my fingers through my hair.
She didn’t look up; she didn’t even move. She just sighed and said, “I never want to see you again for the rest of my life, Leland Wilder. You or anyone else in your family.”