Chapter Forty-Two
THE DAY PASSES IN A hazy blur. I sit in the living room, alone. I walk to the front porch and pick up the pieces of the swing, alone. I rip down Andrew’s curtains and bundle up the broken glass in them, tempted to use the lump as a pillow.
The sun sets, and darkness creeps into the house. There are two bedrooms. One is empty, unused. I close the door. In the second bedroom, there’s an unmade bed and a mirror.
I look like shit.
Frizzy strands of hair hang in straggles around my face, yellow tinges my deep eye bags, and my chapped lips are crusty with blood. I collapse backward onto the bed.
I hate it here.
A knock jolts me out of a dreamless sleep. Begrudgingly, I head to the front door, but Greeley flings it open before I have the chance.
“Greeley.” I step forward and, shocking both of us, hug her. “It’s nice to see you.”
Her body is as stiff as a scarecrow. “The fuck is this?”
“Please hug me.”
Greeley frees an arm and whacks me with a wooden plank. “Get a grip, Dakota.”
I choke up. “I—I’m just—I really—” I suck on a lemon, and the juice forms a thick bubble in the center of my throat. The lemon bursts, and I crumple to the ground and cry.
“Enough of this.” She takes the corroded wooden plank and slams it against her knee.
Rotted pieces fling through the air and hit the ground, scattering with the glass.
I flinch, ready for Greeley to hit me with the jagged wood, but instead, she says, “I came to invite you for dinner. To Sling and Bama’s. ”
Then the tears come. Again. Enough to fill Jocassee.
“I’m more than happy to un-invite you. Seriously—that trash you threw in my yard? I ought to beat your ass for that.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“It’s . . . fine,” Greeley stammers. “Now pull it together, or else I’m taking back my half of the deer.”
My stomach roars. “No, no, I’m fine.” I wipe the tears off my face. I pull in a big breath, force air down my lungs.
“Move it or lose it.”
I follow Greeley outside. The dimming day is cold, and I pull my hoodie closer around me. “Hey,” I say. “You don’t happen to know where to find a broom, do you?”
“Ha! There’s a lady who trades cleaning supplies exclusively. I’ll introduce you. But it’ll cost you.”
“Everything does.”
“Now you’re getting it,” she says, slapping me on the back. “C’mon, let me show you this beast of a deer.”