"i dont know, i think it's kind of sweet." she looked up at troy "dying with the love of your life? thats cute"
troy shook his head "just because someone you love dies doesn't mean you have to. if i die, i don't want you to"
ivy decided that he was...
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ivy sat in the chair across from troy with her arms folded across her chest. she was lucky that she wasn't on the stage because the people would've seen her uninterested look.
a memorial was being held for charlene, who was the woman flying the helicopter. ivy and her had only spoken a few times before, so they weren't close. she only showed up because it would look bad on troy if she didn't.
she thought that memorials like this were stupid. there was no reason to purposefully make others sad over another's death. mourn and get on with the day.
"i was in the dining room dry canning some beans when an angel fell from the damn sky and crashed in my back yard" the woman on the stage said "i screamed and ran out there...and there she was. all of 12, a lump on the ground holding onto a giant lawn umbrella. she had jumped off the roof. thought the thing would hold her. she broke her arm in two places but she never cried"
ivy gave the woman a fake apologetic look when she glanced at her. it made the woman smile before she wrapped up the sob story.
"charlene embodied the spirit of this place. an 'always ready, never quit, get it right this time' spirit. and she would've...if she wasn't risking her life for the unprepared."
everyone turned to madison and her family, whispering amongst themselves. jake escorted the woman off the stage just as madison decided to stand up.
"hello. i just want to introduce my family; i'm madison clark, and these are my children, nick and alicia. we wanted to offer our condolences for charlene and for the others you lost." madison paused "we've lost loved ones too...travis. travis - he was our compass and he..." she seemed to decide against telling her own story about him "we just wanted to say thank you for sheltering us and thank you for your generosity. we will repay it."
jake nodded as she sat down, and the prying eyes from the crowd stayed on madison.
"thank you...we've all lost. we share that. and...grieving's hard, but it's important that we process it-"
a man in the crowd stood and cut him off "more important to prepare, jake. i'm sorry, there is a time and place for mourning, and patty is owed that, but who brought down the helicopter?"
ivy looked down at her hands, running her index finger nails over the pad of her thumb to soothe her nerves.
the two spoke at the same time, jake telling him sweetly that they were going to figure it out, but the man was mad.
"we aim to find out, vernon, we're gonna get to the bottom of this."
"when? what's your timeline? jeremiah, please."
the eyes then turned to jeremiah, who shook his head but remained seated next to troy "nothing's changed, vernon. make no mistake, we're in a wartime posture here. we tasked alpha station to scout the crash site. when we know what we're dealing with, we'll act...if it's some wing nut, we'll act. if it's a larger challenge, we will act."
