Page 96 of The Sun
“Don’t worry.” I pushed up from the table, and just when I rounded the doorway, I heard Momma whisper, “She was such a good girl.”
It seemed it didn’t take much to strip the people I cared for of their “good enough” title.
33
Elias
February 2000
The temperature rarely dropped below forty degrees in Fort Morgan, so I was a little disoriented when I woke up an hour late with my bedroom freezing.
No lights. No power. Some transformer down the street had blown due to ice.
Ice, because it had dropped down to twenty-nine and rained.
I skirted through a stop sign, my back tires slipping on a patch of black ice. As luck would have it, I caught the flash of red and blue lights in my rearview.
Groaning, I pulled over on the corner of Seabreeze and Sawgrass, right in front of someone’s manatee mailbox, then I sifted through the junk in my glove compartment looking for my registration.
The dreaded tap, tap, tap came on my window, and when I turned to grab the handle and manually roll it down, I froze. Mr. Lower had his head turned toward his shoulder, talking into the walkie-talkie clipped to his uniform. That was fucking great.
I wound the window down. “Hey, Mr. Lower.”
“Elias?” He tipped the brim of his hat—out of habit I guess. “You had a taillight out, son.”
“Shit. Didn’t realize. Sorry, sir.”
“Mmm.” His chest inflated like one of those puffer fish, and the breath he finally blew out made a large, white cloud in the cold air. “License and registration.”
“Yes, sir.” I handed both items to him, watching his eyebrows pinch together as he studied them. “How’s your aunt?”
“Good. Real good.” Aunt Billie could have been dead adm I wouldn’t have known. I clutched the steering wheel and nodded, then he passed the documents back, along with a ticket.Asshole.And I thanked him because what else was I going to do?
“I sure hope the things I’ve heard the guys at the station saying about you ain’t true.”
My heart stuttered. Enough that a slow sweat popped out on my forehead, pore by pore.
Surely to God, he didn’t know about Sunny and me, not that it would have mattered in a few months anyway. As much as I respected him, as much as I refused to ever drive a wedge between his daughter and him—because I understood his concern, I did—what he thought about me wouldn’t be able to keep Sunny away from me once he no longer had a legal hold on her.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” I swallowed. “Sir.”
His fingers drummed on the side of my truck. Another puff of fog. “All I’m gonna say is, don’t follow in your daddy’s footsteps, Elias. You’re better than that.” His lips flattened into a thin line, and he patted the roof of my truck before walking back to his cruiser.
Better than that. For some reason those three words ate at me, tugging and tearing like barbed wire.
Better than my paw.
Not anywhere close to good enough for his daughter. Even though I was determined to give her the world. Even though I would never, in a million years think of doing what Good Guy Ben had done to Daisy.
When I pulled off, I stuck my middle finger up. Even though he couldn’t see it, it made me feel a little better.
When I gothome that afternoon, there was a message on the answering machine from Sunny. “I love you.”
I sifted through the mail, smiling when I saw a letter from the University of Alabama. I slipped my finger underneath the seal, pulled the thick stock paper out and carefully unfolded it.
Dear Elias,
Congratulations! You have an opportunity to become an educated man and play great football! University of Alabama degree is one of the most prestigious in America. As the head coach at the University of Alabama, I would like to formally extend a scholarship offer to you.
