the next room. It wasn’t like she could ask Quinn how she was
doing now either. What was going to happen when Dallas had
to get on that plane? She didn’t want to think about it. She’d
promised herself she was going to have as fun a night as
possible. The other heap of problems, as her mom liked to say
all the time, would still be there waiting at the end of the night,
or the next morning.
She was still standing at the window when the smoke died
away and the back door opened and closed. Dallas had the
absurd urge to run, but instead she just turned and shifted
uncomfortably from foot to foot.
It was soon apparent that when Ashton Smyth came in,
loaded with a tray of burgers so high that it looked like an
ac
tual burger mountain, that there would be no need to run. He
looked out from behind the mound and gave her the classic
grin that she remembered so well. Quinn’s parents had hardly
aged at all. They looked great. Almost just like Dallas
remembered them.
“Dallas!” Ashton said, kind of casual, as though he hadn’t
seen her for a few days rather than ten years. “It’s good to see
you again! Come for burgers and to help my little girl
celebrate?”
Quinn pretended to be offended by her dad’s comment.
“Hey! I thought I was your little girl.”
“You’re both my little girls. Thirty. Wow. Can’t believe it.
Where did all the time go?”
Dallas was so relieved that she didn’t have to apologize for
Willford’s passing again. Or for anything and everything else.
There were so many things she could say sorry for, but for the