Wade Kinsella stared at the empty beer bottle. He smoothed his fingers over the rim, silently cursing at the world.
He hadn't had a drink in six years. Not since she left. Not since the day she got on a plane to New York City with her new husband and never came back. Not since he almost killed himself crashing into a ditch. He was so drunk at the time, he couldn't remember his name. All he could remember was...her.
Her silky brown hair and her big brown eyes. Her stupid New York shorts and her ridiculous shoes. Her voice, her lips, her finger tips. All the things he tried so hard to forget where permanantly burned into his memory. He knew there was no way to shake Zoe.
Lemon Breeland's hands shook violently as she paced in the Rammer Jammer Kitchen. Food was sizzling, people were talking, but she couldn't hear anything except the chant in her own mind.
"Must get out. Must get out. Must get out."
He'd be here any second. She started spinning in circles, trying to disappear into thin air.
"Must get out. Must get out. Must get out..."
From outside, "And without further a do, Senator Lavon Hayes!"
The clapping, cheering, whooping was all to much for her.
"MustgetoutmustgetoutmustgetOUT..."
Lemon pushed through the kitchen door and sprinted out the back, jumping in her little car. She wanted to drive away. Away from the Rammer Jammer, away from Bluebell, away from Alabama maybe. She wanted to drive into the Great Nothing she'd imagined in her mind, where she could drive in and disappear. But instead of leaving, she just cried. Cried and cried and cried.