she broke up with Quinn and moved away. She’d lied to
Quinn. She didn’t think she could lie to Willford as well. He
would have seen right through it. Dallas hadn’t said goodbye
to Quinn’s parents either. To Quinn’s sister, Danica, or to her
brother, Billy. They were all so close. Dallas thought of them
all like an extension of herself. Like her own brothers and
sisters, like a second set of parents.
It hurt Dallas to think that Willford was gone. A man
she had once liked, respected, and thought of as a grandfather
of her own. He was gone. He’d died and he was buried, the
funeral already over, and she’d known nothing about it.
Thinking about that was just as painful as thinking
about how she’d ended things in Topeka. Breaking up with
Quinn was the hardest thing that Dallas had ever done. She’d
lied. She’d broken her heart. She’d hurt so many people
because she thought that was her only option. She’d learned
the hard way that sometimes people change their minds.
Sometimes people come around. Her parents had changed
their minds. They had come around. They’d accepted her for
who she was eventually- after years. It was hard. It was still
hard. They still had their issues. All those years later though,
the damage was already done. Dallas couldn’t go back. She
couldn’t go back to Topeka. She couldn’t go back and pick up
all the pieces of Quinn’s shattered heart and the life they’d
never have together.
What made Willford think that it was possible?
Willford wasn’t just stubborn. He also had a great
sense of humor. His dry wit could entertain people for days.
He was wickedly intelligent too, and could talk for hours on a
surprising amount of subjects.