“Don’t think, just pack,” said Ben, squeezing her shoulder. “Let’s get this done, and get the hell out of here.”
She was beginning to think Ben could read her mind. How was he so damn insightful?
It took them two hours to finish. Renie needed to stop at the registrar’s office on campus, and once she had, she’d never have to set foot in Fort Collins again. It wasn’t as though Billy had even spent much time with her here, but it was the first place they’d made love.
That was the part she couldn’t allow herself to think about. If she did, it made her sick to her stomach.
It wasn’t just Fort Collins, it was everywhere they’d been together. She even avoided Ben’s parents’ house, not that she’d be able to much longer without getting a lecture from her mom and Ben. Bud and Ginny were among the nicest people she’d ever met, and just because she and Billy spent the night of her mom and Ben’s wedding stargazing, didn’t mean she had to avoid Ben’s parents for the rest of her life.
Mark and Paige offered to get her car that she’d left at Billy’s the day they flew to San Antonio, and drive it to Crested Butte. It gave them an excuse to visit the ranch, they told her.
“How’s Blythe?” Renie asked Paige. Blythe had been her best friend as long as Paige had been her mom’s. Renie missed her, but not enough that she could endure the endless questions about Billy she knew Blythe would ask.
“She’s okay, sweetie. She doesn’t understand why you’re so distant though.” Paige put her arm around Renie’s shoulders. “Don’t shut everyone out, honey, there are a lot of people who love you. If you need to push Billy out, no one will argue with you about it, but everyone else…you need us.”
“Sorry, uh, I’ll be back in a minute.” Renie left the table, and ran down the stairs. She shouldn’t listen to the conversation she knew her mom would have with Paige, but she did anyway.
“What was that?” Renie overheard Paige ask her mom.
“That’s what she does. She doesn’t like the conversation, she goes downstairs, and we have no idea when we might see her again.”
“It’s so unlike her.”
“Paige—she’s my daughter, and I swear, I don’t know who that person is who just ran downstairs. I want my happy, smiling, life-loving, warm, sweet, caring, unselfish, smart, brave daughter back.”
“Wanna get out of here for a while? I could use a drink, and I’m sure you could too.”
Renie came upstairs once she saw her mom leave with Paige, Mark, and Ben. She didn’t expect to see Jake, Ben’s oldest son, sitting in the family room, staring into space.
“Hi, Jake, I didn’t know you were here.”
“No kidding.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you knew I was here, you wouldn’t have come out of the bedroom.”
Renie started to go back downstairs.
“Wanna know why I’m not at my grandparents’ house like Luke is?”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you to be here alone.”
She walked toward the stairs.
“Don’t go back to your room,” Jake shouted at her. “I’m so sick of you not talking to any of us. And you look like shit, by the way.”
“Thanks a bunch, Jake.”
“Ya know, you used to be my favorite.”
“Your favorite?”
“Person. In the whole world.”
Renie sat down on the couch next to him. “I’m a mess right now, but that doesn’t have anything to do with you.”