Re: Penny's place: Clem & Penny & Frannie & bacon & gelato & toe splints
It ain't about being scared, normally I wouldn't be worried. But this don't feel normal. He's hollered at me plenty before, but I've always been okay hollering back, but right now hollering back just don't feel the same. Or right. Like, for once he ain't just bellyaching. It hurts. I ain't ever been insecure about that man, not one bit. Not for a second. I could say anything or do anything, and we'd work it out and be fine. I don't know what this is. It's got me going crazy, but somewhere along the way I went to being real secure, more secure than any other relationship I had or ever had, to hanging on for dear life. I didn't change, his situation changed, but I wasn't here early on. I could have done something then. I don't know, all these things I can't do nothing about. [It was making her a little crazy, she'd never had to worry about Cris and her, and that had been a welcome relief. She didn't know if it was logical to worry now, but she couldn't stop. Every part of her thrummed with worry every time their spats were worse than the last. She didn't know why everything felt real different, or what had changed. Maybe it was the strangeness of being in this place, or just the subject matter and what everyone had been going through. Either way, things were different, and she was trying to keep up as best she could.]
[She ran her hand through her hair and shrugged her shoulders, it wasn't a terrible idea, but at the same time... And she knew she was hearing her own words back at her, but it didn't count if they were about the same people. Cris was giving enough to everyone else. He needed what he could get from her. But she knew everything was all out whack in any case.] I can't even get that man to agree to eat a meal with me anymore. But we did talk, and we did both say we'd try and do better. That's got to be a start.