d Sarah Miller' s nostrils, ya

rp, insistent agony fro

but the floorboards

ed edges of the old flora

rp, pierced through

screamed, he

ans

f the fire, growin

se for twenty miserable

er wi

he argument. Mon

scheme cooked up with Brenda Jenkins, h

d yelled, his face puce. "You' r

esentment finally boiling over. "I' ve supported your

ing business, all sacrificed on the altar of

been off-balance, near the top of the r

splintering wood and a si

smoke, a different

Rick had promised

seen her crumpl

concern for her, onl

red, "the deal with Brenda

led back up,

oning

st of a chance with a woman who' d barely

was unbea

billowed,

ty y

otional punching bag, the one who quietly p

a, the one that got away, blaming Sara

nd predatory smile, would ever want a loser like R

et, the one who absorbed his failures a

athering dust like the unsold inven

prec

isi

eded someon

ashed nearby, sen

was

I wish I' d never met Rick Peterson. I wis

wave of orange and bl

kne

ll ache in

ight, sliced thr

rying to lift a

he chronic ache in her back from ye

didn'

ed her e

her childho

ters on the wall –

esk with high s

quilt her m

as 1

led her to the bone despite the summer

pright, her he

9

eighte

igh school

e was just at the beginning of her se

life, would kill her thro

It had c

followed by a dizzying, fi

hings would

h Miller would

r education. Sta

ck Pet

, ever benefit

without her, his constant,

o soothe his ego, to blame for

e years, the small slig

ings for a \"sure t

s and demands, always expecting Sarah to cate

mining Rick, then blaming Sara

Kevin and Kyle, alway

, bled her dry, emoti

, a black hole of

s indifferent face as he chose his papers over

even call

t left he

g he caused, in a fire

m

r ag

young, healthy

a life t

loser