"Please . . . don't cry. You had to have known I'd do this at some point."
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Parker Sims is the class clown but that doesn't mean he's easy to fool. And that's just what Nola B. is good at - fooling people. She's got the whole school believing th...
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Chapter Thirty-Nine:
Nola thought she could try, for Parker's sake, and still got out with him. So with all her strength, she pulled herself together and attempted to show no sign of the internal panic that consumed her.
"Parker, we weren't expecting you," Aunt Suzanna stated as she entered the living room and noticed he was there.
"Uhh, I was going to take Nola out - if that was okay."
Suzanna smiled, "Now, you just took my niece out yesterday. Do you have intentions of marrying her?"
Parker rolled his eyes, "I think you spent too long with my mother last night."
Nola stood there embarrassed that her aunt had said that to Parker.
"I did have a nice chat with you mother. She's a great conversationalist and I, actually, plan to have lunch with her this week, before I leave."
"You're l-leaving?" Nola quickly asked before glancing down at the floor.
The corners of Suzanna's lips twitched down, "Yes, at the end of this week. The hospital needs me back..." The excuse hung in the air with silence.
Nola knew that her aunt didn't really have to go. However, there was some kind of bad blood between Nola's mother and Suzanna that Nola never could figure out. Yet, history always repeated itself. Suzanna would come and promise to stay for a while but cut her trip short after hanging out with her sister.
Nola started to consider that if Camille's words were true and Mitch was somehow going to get out soon, he'd be on a warpath. He would come here first, looking for her, and if someone was here she knew they would get hurt. Mitch would hurt anyone she loved without blinking. Nola wasn't assuming this, it was just another thing he engraved into her mind over the years.
So, while she wanted to be upset that her aunt was leaving, she figured that it was ultimately for the best. Something was about to happen, all thanks to Camille, and Nola began to figure that the fewer people she loved around her, to get hurt, the better.
Consideration struck Nola that, maybe, she should try to push her parent way.
Keeping a distance and not speaking to them would be the quickest way to send them packing. Two less people in Mitch's path.
She looked over at Parker and when she did, Nola almost couldn't breathe. It was easy, for some odd reason, accepting that people need to be out of harm's way ... but pushing Parker away ... Nola didn't know if she had the strength to do that.
"Well," Parker spoke when he reached his limit of awkward silence. "Nola and I have to get going, important plans planned - If that's cool with you..." Parker stated, realizing he never got approval to take Nola out.
