Page 73 of Little Last Words

“See what?”

“The spark between them. At the time, I don’t think he even realized it. Not long after the movie night, my life imploded when my parents decided to get a divorce. They fought over everything—child support, custody of me, the dog—it was a nightmare.”

“Sounds awful.”

“It was, and when I tried talking to Zachary about what I was going through, he didn’t have much to say. I felt unsupported.”

“Any idea why he reacted that way?”

“He had a perfect home life. His parents never argued in front of each other, and he didn’t seem to have any idea what to say to me or what to do. I was frustrated and mad … not even at him, just everything. I suppose it was the beginning of the end of the relationship we had at that time.”

I thought about Penelope and the relationship she’d had with her parents. From everything I’d learned about her, she was a lot more like her father in personality than her mother. Still, she’d grown up in a family where her mother was the driving force.

“From what I know, Penelope had issues at home back then too, with her mother.”

“There was a big difference between us, though. She was a quiet, private person who didn’t like talking about her personal problems. I was a clingy blabbermouth. I didn’t realize it then, but I do now. When I think back to the person I was in high school, I know I was too much for Zachary. He cared a lot about me. He just couldn’t handle me.”

“He broke up with you, right?” I asked.

“I’d say it was mutual.”

“How so?”

“The awkwardness over how he handled the conversations with my parents made me take a step back. I went quiet, which wasn’t like me. He knew, and he kept asking me what was wrong. I’d say nothing. He didn’t know what else to do, so he decided to talk to Penelope about what was going on with us.”

“How did that go?”

“She gave him some good advice, and he took it. Things were better for a couple of months, and then it started to go back to the way it was before. I couldn’t deal with it on top of everything else, so I decided to end things.”

As soon as she mentioned the breakup, she started tapping her finger on the arm of the chair. Perhaps she was reminiscing about the old days. And while she’d opened up in more ways than I expected, there was an odd energy in the room. For as much as she’d said, there were things she had not said … doors she seemed to want to keep closed.

“How long after the two of you broke up did Zachary and Penelope start dating?” I asked.

“It was some months later. We were swimming at the lake one day, and I asked her if she ever talked to him. She had, from time to time. I asked her if she had feelings for him. She said she did, but she hadn’t allowed herself to act on them because of our friendship and his prior relationship with me. I remember sitting there, staring at her, knowing she cared for him. I could tell, and I never thought we’d get back together, so—”

“You gave her the go-ahead.”

Vanessa nodded. “I’d started dating someone new, a guy several years older than me. I fell fast and hard, which made it a lot easier to put Zachary in my rearview. I convinced myself I was over him because he couldn’t give me what I wanted.”

The way she’d said the last part about not giving her what she wanted led me to believe we weren’t just talking about his inability to communicate.

“What couldn’t Zachary give you?” I asked.

She blinked at me and began shaking her head. “I suppose I walked right into that one, didn’t I? Let’s see … how do I say this in a delicate way. I wanted to take our relationship to the next level, and Zachary wanted to wait.”

The next level, meaning sex.

So the breakup wasn’t just about the lack of being able to connect over her parents’ divorce. It was about Zachary not wanting to get physical. With everything she was dealing with at home, I imagine she’d felt rejected by him too.

“Why did Zachary and Penelope call it quits?” I asked. “And how did the two of you end up back together?”

I’d already heard one version of Zachary and Penelope’s breakup, a version that pointed to her mother as the cause.

I wondered if there was another version, something I hadn’t been told.

“From what I know, she broke up with him over something to do with her mother. As for us, I went off to college. A few years later, I was home on summer break, and so was he. I was at the park with a couple of friends, and he jogged past. By then, he’d matured a lot. I had too. The feelings we’d once had for each other came flooding back, and … well, all these years later, here we are.”

She glanced out the window. Zachary had exited the Jeep and was standing outside of it, still speaking to Whitlock. It was as if he sensed her staring at him. He turned, but as soon as their eyes met, she looked away.