Status Updates From When I Should've Stayed: Re...

Some might say this is our happily-ever-after, but I’d call it our happily-ever-forever.

I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.

All that matters is that we’re here.

The fourteen-year-old can be a little dodgy when it comes to follow-throughs, but he’s just dodgy enough to take a little cash on the side without saying a d@mn word to anyone about what I’ve asked him to do.

Dale’s responding smile is so big, Sheriff Pete should write him a f#cking ticket for taking up too much space.

I hate how good it feels hearing it roll off his tongue. My name has never sounded so soft or beautiful than when it’s moving past his lips with the kind of affection and reverence every woman dreams a man would show her.

(Oh, my gosh. Why is it usually down to a lack of communication?! Why do characters always think they know best for the other without asking that other or giving them a say in the matter, or even just purely informing them of the situation?!)

“You saved my life.”

“I didn’t -“

“You did.” I don’t just mean the accident … Every time Josie Ellis chooses to love me, she saves me.

Note to everyone, if you ever find yourself in a situation where a shard of glass or some other object is hanging out of your body, leave it there and let an actual doctor decide what to do. Per Dr. Sarens, if I would’ve let the glass be, I wouldn’t have lost so much blood, and he wouldn’t have been sweating bullets in surgery.

How much has he had?

Well, he doesn’t know I’ve only been serving him water for the past ten or so drinks, so I’d say a lot. Tried to keep count, but the b@$t@rd stole the bottle of bourbon from behind the bar and started giving himself his own refills before I realized what happened. Pretty sure he managed half the bottle.

I hate how much my heart races at the sound of my name sliding off her tongue. After all these years, she still says it best.

Josie tends to distract herself with everyone else’s feelings and emotions so she doesn’t have to feel. To grieve.

My best friend isn’t the type … who wants you hovering over him on a good day, and in his grief, that hasn’t changed. …

I’ve done my best to channel my efforts to be there for him into other avenues … Today, he needs me to do the heavy lifting where he can’t, to guide him through the motions and hold him upright while we lay his daughter to rest.

I have evidence here of blackmail and coercion and … multiple … forced … abortions and other things.

Where the h#ll did you get that?

It doesn’t matter where I got it. What matters is that I have it. And I’m going to pursue it to the fullest extent of the law …

When someone is dying, their hearing is the last to go.

The implications of a dying girl’s father getting married to a woman he just met isn’t something that falls in the gray. That’s something that falls in the hell-no-don’t-ever-do-that red zone.

Which would explain a lot of your exhaustion and hormonal imbalance. The early stages of pregnancy are a tough time both mentally and physically, and combining that with grief would be a lot for anyone.