Page 74 of A Thousand Little Goodbyes

Scarlett would never get a chance to grow into the woman her grandmother had been—full of warmth and beloved of everyone she met, fiercely protective of those she called her own. She’d been handed a ticking clock from almost the moment of her birth, and even though they’d all done their best to push the hands back, there was no reversing them now.

Unfortunately, the softening of Chrissie’s heart couldn’t have comeat a worse time. She was going to need all the armor she could get if she wanted out of this part alive.

“Chrissie, please tell me you bought me a puppy somewhere on the road and have been hiding it from me this whole time.” Scarlett’s voice was almost as rough as the stable hand’s. “Or that you’ve ordered an exotic bird online and are having it delivered here as a final gift to me.”

“Yeeeaah. About that—”

Scarlett shoved her—as in, actually lifted a hand and pushed it against Chrissie’s shoulder. She wasn’t strong enough to do much damage, but Chrissie was forced to take a step back to avoid falling flat on her ass.

“At the very most, I’ll allow Rufio to be shipped here in a crate—but only if you’ve officially decided to do away with him and want to make sure he goes out in comfort.” Scarlett shoved again. Again, Chrissie had to keep moving backwards if she wanted to stay standing. “Is Rufio being shipped here in a crate? Is that what this is?”

Chrissie ducked out of the way to avoid the next attack.

“Scarlett, don’t. You’ll wear yourself out.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you invited complete strangers to my deathbed. That’s why you were on that airline website, isn’t it?” Scarlett’s voice suddenly turned sharp. This time, it wasn’t her grandmother that peeked through, but Kat—angry, frustrated,heartsickKat. “Chrissie, how could you? I wanted it to be just the two of us for a reason. I know I haven’t handled this whole thing the way you’d have liked, but it’s my decision. My body, my life, my goodbye.”

“And it still will be your decision. You don’t have to see or talk to anyone you don’t want to.” Honesty compelled Chrissie to pause and add, “Actually, that’s not true. If you’d prefer to keep Walsh and Lily and the dratted cat away, then I promise you won’t even catch a whiff of them. I completely respect your privacy in that regard. But that’s where I draw the line.”

All of the color drained from Scarlett’s face.

“What did you do?” she demanded. “What did you tell her?”

“I haven’t told Kat anything…yet. But if you thought you could just up and die without telling that girl goodbye, you underestimated me.” Chrissie crossed her arms, aware that she was treading a fine line and determined to move forward anyway.

The truth was, Scarlett wasn’t wrong about her. Chrissie would never be the type of woman who made a lasting impression. She could write out all the lists in the world and make all the viral videos she wanted, but there was no denying that she was happiest in her cat-pee-scented home with a home-cooked meal on one end of the table and her daughter busy doing homework on the other. People would continue taking advantage of her good nature. Stray teenagers in piano bars would continue to beg her to drive them across the country. She’d grow and cut her hair in an endless cycle as a self-imposed penance for her brother’s death, and that was okay with her.

But no one—not even Scarlett—was going to hurt her baby.

“Their flight gets in tomorrow morning, so you’d better start planning what you want to say—and I can tell you right now that if it doesn’t include the wordsI,am,your, andmother, then you’ll be finishing your stay here without me.”

The color came rushing back to Scarlett’s face at such a rapid pace that Chrissie had to reach out and steady her.

“You can’t be serious, Chrissie. Why would I tell her that here?Now?We had a deal. You made a promise!”

“Yeah, well. I’m breaking it. Sue me.”

Scarlett was startled into a harsh laugh. “You can’t make me do anything.”

“No, I can’t. But I’m telling her the truth one way or another, so I’m giving you a chance to come clean first.” Chrissie blew out a long breath. She’d known she had a battle on her hands, but she hadn’trealized how much it would cost to strike the killing blow against a woman who only had a few days left to live. “You heard the things she said, Scarlett. About how her father and grandparents want nothing to do with her, about how the only person she has in her life is me. To her, that’s the reality she lives every day, but you and I both know that’s not true. Whether you admit it or not, you’ve been there for her every step of the way.”

“Please, Chrissie. I can’t.”

“You can, and you will. The last time you begged me like this was when you were giving birth to that child, and you managed to push her out just fine.” Chrissie had to bite down on her tongue to keep the sympathy from rising. She needed to get through this while she still had enough anger in her heart to successfully pull it off. “You made me write that stupid list for a reason, remember? You want me to learn to stand up for myself and put my own needs before other people’s, so I am. It just so happens that the person I’m putting them in front of isyou.”

Scarlett opened her mouth and closed it again, her eyes so wide that Chrissie could see the map of red veins traveling across them. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“I hope not. I’d very much like to see you again someday.”

Scarlett staggered back as though struck. For the longest moment, Chrissie was afraid she’d overstepped some unknown boundary between them. She stood by her decision to tell Kat the truth, and she refused to regret this new foray into self-assertion, but she desperately hoped it wouldn’t come at the cost of her best friend. That was the one price she’d never been asked to pay before.

Which was why it came as such a surprise when Scarlett rushed into Chrissie’s arms.

“I don’t want to die,” she said on a sob. Her whole body heaved as she gave herself over to the emotions flooding through her. Even thoughScarlett’s head was buried in her shoulder, Chrissie could hear each word as clearly as a bell being rung against her heart. “I’m not finished yet. There’s so much I haven’t seen. So many things I haven’t done.”

Any remaining anger Chrissie might have felt toward her friend disappeared in that instant. She ran her hand over the short strands of Scarlett’s hair, the oversized sunglasses hitting the ground with the shatter of plastic.

“I know, sweetie. Shh. It’s okay. I know.”