Mae woke up just shy of eleven in the morning.
She woke up angry, frustrated that they'd let her sleep for so long, but that was quickly derailed by a bit of guilt and a desperate need to get to work. She showered and, at Ann's insistence, scarfed down a quick breakfast burrito (much to her mother's chagrin) and then disappeared into the basement.
Bea and Ann worked on their laptops furiously.
Trent made calls. He hated every single one of them.
Tabby picked up on the second ring when he phoned her.
"Hey, what's up? You needed to talk about something?" she asked.
"Yeah…"
"Oh crap, I know that tone. Something bad happened. Uh...is Bea on her way here with a rusty razor blade because she decided she actually didn't like me pogoing on your cock until you pumped me full of baby batter?" she asked.
A long moment went by.
"...so I can tell you're making a joke, and dear God phrasing, but I also feel like there's some legit concern in there."
"I'm a pessimistic girl, in case you hadn't picked that up from the Demontower games," Tabby replied.
"Uh-huh. Well, no. There's been no reversals regarding how the ladies in my life feel about you, uh...having fun with me. Wait, why Bea specifically?"
"Mae obviously loves me to death and Ann is too chill...I think. I don't know, I also get the impression she really would just shank my ass if she got mad enough."
Trent laughed. "Maybe. Ann's actually more scary than Bea...mostly. Anyway, I'm getting off track. Everyone still thinks you're great. But uh…" He hesitated.
"Come on, man, spit it out."
"We need money. Like, a lot of money."
"A lot like...hundreds of dollars?"
"Thousands."
"...what the fuck? Why? Oh man, is someone in the hospital?"
"No, no. No one's hurt. The short of it is: Mae's parent's are going to lose their house if we don't come up with sixty five grand in about nine days."
"...well fuck me," Tabby muttered. "Uh, just so you know now, I'm not, like, that rich…"
"I know, and I'm not asking for all of it. Honestly, I'm just asking for whatever you can spare, and if it's nothing, that's totally cool. We won't be angry."
"Hmm, okay...normally I don't get financially involved with other people beyond the strictest of business because it really can complicate relationships. That being said...you really wooed me with your cock." She paused. "Fuck, I'm really sorry. You come to me with this emergency and I'm making a fucking joke out of it. You just caught me off guard, but I'm also being kind of serious. I really do like you more than...most of the people in my life. Okay, okay, uh...lemme think."
"Again, if you can't-"
"I know, I know. Consider your social ass covered, I'm not feeling pressured. I like Mae's parents. And all of you obviously...hold on," she muttered. He waited inside, standing at the front window now and staring out onto the street. It was sunny out there, and hot. And it was just going to get hotter. He wasn't quite looking forward to those long treks Mae liked to take as they headed into the harsher parts of summer, let alone fall when it got horribly muggy.
He could hear Tabby typing. For a moment, he found himself thinking of her ass. Her sweet, fat, white-furred ass…
"Okay," she said. "I'll need to spend a bit more thinking about everything, but here's what I can offer. I can give you an advance on your royalties to the tune of...seven grand."
"Holy shit, seriously? That won't, like, fuck you over will it?" he asked.
"Trent, I like you, a lot. Enough that I let you fuck me in the ass. But I don't like you enough to bankrupt myself for you." He laughed. "Yeah, sorry, not there yet. Trust me, I will be okay. I have my money shit on lockdown, and all this buzz around your book has actually led to a resurgence in sales for my games across the board. It's actually kicked my ass into gear to finally get back to work on making that Demontower Complete Anthology I've been tinkering around with forever."
"Holy shit, thank you, and also that's awesome, Mae will shit over that," Trent replied. "Uh, how soon can you have it to me?"
"Within the next few hours," she replied. "I imagine, since you all are so smart, you've set up some kind of donation thing?"
"Yeah, Bea's got a GoFundMe going and a website."
"Good. Shoot me a link and I will share the fuck out of it. Anything else?"
"Yes, that book signing is now more pertinent than ever. If I could sell like a few hundred books at twenty bucks a pop…"
"Hmm. Yeah. I'm almost ready to launch them your way...you know, I could up the amount to five hundred and have them emergency rush ordered to you and they could be there in like three days. If you sold all five hundred for twenty bucks a pop that's...like ten grand."
"That would be stupidly, ridiculous helpful."
"Consider it done then. Anything else?"
"Uh...yes! One more thing. Do I have your authorization to write some side quest novellas and short stories set before, during, and after the novels so far and sell them at a 'choose your own price' via that website as another emergency revenue stream?"
"...mmm...yes," she said. "I'm reluctant to rush out what's going to be basically canon content without having more time to look over it, but you've done a ridiculously good job so far, so I'm going to trust you with this."
"Thank you. So much. You are a fucking life-saver. I'll make sure to put a note up that the shorts are 'under construction'. Honestly I was hoping to pitch this to you later but I think it'd be cool to have an anthology of shorts and novellas in the Demontower universe."
"I like the idea...all right, anything else?"
"Not that I can think of."
"Okay. So, wire you seven grand, get those five hundred books rush ordered, bliztkreig the fuck out of the GoFundMe, let people know about the side stories. Send me the proper links and I will absolutely hook you up."
"All right. Um...thank you doesn't really seem like a good enough thing to say because this is ridiculously helpful and kind," Trent replied awkwardly.
"Honestly I get it, dude. Desperate times and desperate measures and all that. Trust me, I feel the gratitude. You're a really good dude, and you've got a really good family of friends over there, and I'm very, very happy to help out with that. So, godspeed and good luck. I imagine you've got a metric fuckton on your plate, so don't tie up the line thanking me."
"...all right. Thanks, Tabby."
"You're welcome. Good luck. I'll be in touch."
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Trent stared at the phone for a long moment, for a moment lost. He became aware of sounds coming from the kitchen. Candy was still here. She had been cleaning up their kitchen after making breakfast. He needed something from her. He walked back across the living room, (Bea might as well have not been there, as she was tucked away in the corner at Ann's desk with noise canceling headphones on and clearly plugged into her work hard), and stepped into the kitchen.
"Hey! I thought I'd make tacos for lunch since I saw you have the fixings for them and I know how much y'all love tacos. Who were you on the phone with?"
"Tabby," he replied. "She's willing to give me an advance on my royalties to the tune of seven grand."
Candy's eyes bulged. "Trent, what? You're already putting up, what, ten thousand dollars?! And now seven more?! Trent, I can't let you do that. It's too much!"
"Candy, I don't think you understand: I'm not losing your house," he replied firmly.
Candy stared at him in silence for a long moment, then slowly frowned. "I...okay, I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I am very grateful, but...why is this so important to you? I know you love Mae, I know you like me and Stan, you like Claire and want her to have a place to live, and that you're generally a good and giving person, but this seems deeper than all of that."
Trent considered her question for a moment. He felt something shift within him, deeply and uncomfortably. He swallowed, tried to force some rigid control over himself. "I don't mean to sound dramatic, but...my life has been pretty shit. Before I came to Possum Springs, I hated my life. It was a lot of bad things. Just...a lot. It did damage. It's become clear to me that I missed out on the whole 'having a family' and 'having a home' thing. I never felt at home, I never felt safe, I never felt loved or even accepted. At best, I felt tolerated.
"It's obvious that you and Mae have a rocky relationship, especially in the past, but it's even more obvious that you and Stan clearly love her. Continually. Every day you wake up and love her. You gave her a home. It was a home that she wanted to come back to so badly she dropped out of college, and I know it's more complicated than that, but it's clear that she felt safe in that house. And yes, she lives with me now, but that home is still home to her. And all of that...seeing it up close like this has made me realize just how much I missed out on, and what Bea had ripped away from her, and what Ann tried to make but got betrayed by her shitty husband, and I will be god-fucking-damned if I let this go without a fight to the death."
He began to say something else, but felt something twitch somewhere between the base of his neck and the top of his chest.
"Ah no," he whispered. "Not right now. Fucking not right-"
He started crying. Candy moved forward without saying anything. She walked right up to him and hugged him like she knew it was going to happen. He hugged her back without even thinking about it.
"It's okay," she whispered. "I'm here for you, Trent."
And that…
Was too much.
He could count on one hand the amount of times his own mother had comforted him anywhere even remotely close to this.
He went from crying to sobbing. Candy seemed to take it in stride.
He was aware of things. He thought he heard Bea talking. And then he heard running. Mae talking, demanding, and then Candy murmured something that might have been "Not right now, sweetheart, give him space".
Trent wasn't sure how long he was like that, but it seemed like a long time. When it was over and the storm of tears had quieted, he straightened up, sniffed, and felt faintly ridiculous.
"Sorry," he murmured, slowly looking around. Bea, Mae, and Ann were all hovering uncertainly in the doorway.
"You don't need to be sorry," Candy said.
"I'm okay," Trent murmured when he saw that Mae looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel. "Hold on." He walked over and blew his nose, then washed his face. "I'm okay," he repeated, "just past trauma bubbling to surface and...Candy acting like a mom was like setting off a nuke since I somehow managed the awful trick of both having a mother and not actually having a mother."
He could see them relaxing, but he could tell it wasn't going to be enough, and he figured that was fair. If he'd come across any of them sobbing like that he'd want a lot more reassurance. He hugged each of them, Mae longest of all largely because she wouldn't let go of him.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Bea asked uncertainly.
"I'm fine, really. Just caught me off guard is all. I'm okay. For real, I want to get back to work. Just got seven grand from Tabby."
"Holy fuck, are you serious?" Mae asked.
"Dead serious," Trent replied. "And she's gonna rush order a ton of Demontower novels here so that we can sell them off. Bea, I need to talk with your dad as soon as I can about that book signing. Also, I need you to send all the relevant information off to Tabby. Also, I'm sanctioned to write bonus shorts for Demontower and to sell them."
"Holy shit that's awesome!" Mae cried.
"Yep. Okay, um...I really love you all, but I think we need to get back to work," he said.
"Okay. Don't hesitate to come get me, or any of us, if you really need us," Ann replied.
"Same to you all," Trent replied.
They lingered for just a bit, and then parted ways, reluctantly going back to work. Trent glanced back at Candy and noticed she was looking at him in a strange way.
"Would you step out with me a moment?" she asked, walking over to the back door.
"Sure," he replied.
They stepped out onto the back patio and for a moment she said nothing.
"I just wanted to say that...I didn't know it was that bad. Your history. And I'm sorry. And if you ever want to talk about it, any of it, I'll listen," she said.
"I really appreciate that. Genuinely," he replied. He waited, because there seemed to be more, but she was not forthcoming. "So...is there something else? You seem...I don't know, a little off."
For once, she actually looked uncomfortable. "I just...had a thought. But it isn't very...appropriate. Given the situation."
"I'm all right now, Candy. I'm not going to fall to pieces if you say something kind of awkward to me," he said.
"Well...mmm. I guess I just had a realization, just now, seeing you in there with all of them...okay. I'll just say it. I never got to the point that you're at, in terms of open relationships. Stan and I...got around. Mmm...we had a lot of fun…"
"Candy."
"Sorry." She cleared her throat. "I just...don't really have anyone to talk with this about. I mean outside of Stan, but he's kind of awkward about that part of our relationship now. But. Anyway. While I certainly enjoyed my fair share of affection and love, both giving and getting, it never went that far. So I guess what I'm saying is that I feel guilty, because up until just now...I didn't think there was a lack of love in your relationships, but I did think it was more of a sex thing. And seeing you with each of them...you care for all of them the same. You love Bea just as much as you love Mae, and Ann. It's not...surprising, really. I guess I'm just realizing the relationships are deeper than I realized. Although I guess I should've put that together when you were talking about marriage." She frowned awkwardly. "Told you it was weird."
"I'm not mad," Trent replied. "Honestly I get it. People look at the relationships and...a lot just don't get it. In truth, sometimes I don't get it. It can be crazy and complicated and unstable, and sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but...I love them and it's working, so I'm happy."
"That's what matters," she said. "I should probably get back to making lunch."
"Okay. Oh, wait," he pulled out his phone, "I need Lucy's number."
"I can do that," she murmured, reaching into her back pocket and pulling her phone out. "Wait, why do you need it?"
"Her family won a lottery recently. I want to see if they can help."
Candy grimaced. "Trent…"
"I know. I really do. But as uncomfortable as it is, don't you think Lucy would be mad when she finds out about this and realizes you didn't come to her? Knowing she could help? And she will find out, I'm positive of that."
Candy sighed softly. "...yeah, all right."
She gave him the number and he added it to his phone's memory. "I'm not unsympathetic to your feelings. I know this is uncomfortable...I think you and Stan should talk with Jacob about this. He always seems to know what to say, and he'll be by at some point today."
"I suppose I should, if only to thank him. Stan's at work right now and he won't be home until about five or so. But...thank you. Again."
"You're welcome, Candy."
She headed inside and Trent called up Lucy. She picked up on the fourth ring. "Who is this?"
"Trent," he replied.
"Huh...you know I almost let it go to voicemail? But something told me I should pick it up. Is everything okay?"
"Yes." He paused. "Well, no. But Lori isn't involved in why I'm calling you. I was calling to ask for...an awkward, uh, proposal."
"Oh." She paused. "Goodness. Um. Well...I...appreciate it, but, um...well, my relationship is monogamous…"
"Oh my God," Trent muttered, feeling a massive sting of embarrassment. "Holy sh-I'm sorry, I'm not coming onto you. I should've worded that better. It's about money."
"Oh! Oh my God! I-just-forget that," she said. "Oh lord."
"I mean I totally would if it was on the table," he replied awkwardly. "You're very attractive."
"Oh wow, um, I-thanks, just-can we stop talking about this? Just pretend I never said that stupid thing?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, dear God. Okay. Um. Money. You need to borrow money?"
"Yes." He quickly explained the situation to her.
"Goodness," she whispered. "I...don't know how much we can help. I'll need to speak with Lori's father about it, but...we've spent most of the 'fun' money at this point. The rest is socked away for Lori's and Jessie's college fund and bills and a vacation later this year…"
"That's completely fine. We will absolutely accept 'we can't help you' as an answer, Lucy. Like, I just want to be very clear: no one is going to be sitting here thinking, 'wow you won the fucking lottery and you can't even spare a couple grand for someone about to lose their house'. I mean that sincerely, no one will be bitter or angry if you choose not to offer help. This is an us problem and that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be a you problem. This is our responsibility."
A long pause went by. "God you're an old soul," she whispered finally. "If I was in your shoes I'd be close panicking and screaming at me right now about now at your age. I understand, and I'll speak with him about it, and get back to you. But I do want to help, even if we can't give any money. If I can help, please let me know."
"I will. I'm sure I'll need to call on it, so I'm extremely grateful. Um...I'll text you some information later. We're sort of putting together a campaign for this. Also, I hate to run, but I've got a million things to do."
"I understand. Go on. I'll get back to you. And good luck."
"Thanks. See you later."
"Later."
As he hung up, he heard the back door open up. He saw Bea stepping out. She hesitated as she saw him. "Uh...everything okay there, babe?"
Trent let out a loud groan and sat down on one of the deck chairs. "I am going to fucking die of embarrassment."
She laughed and walked over. "What happened?"
"That was Lori's mom, Lucy."
"...okay."
"Because I worded the fact that I wanted to talk with her about something awkward strangely, she assumed I was coming onto her. Sexually."
Bea burst out laughed. "Oh my God, Trent!"
"Thank you," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, it's just-that's hilarious!" She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. No it's not. This is definitely not funny." She managed to stop laughing for approximately two and a half seconds before she started up again.
"That's not even the stupidest part," he muttered.
"Oh my lord! What else did you say?!"
"When she awkwardly stuttered out that she's monogamous and then I said that's not what I was talking about, I...added on 'I'd totally do you if I could'."
"Trent!" She actually fell onto the ground laughing.
"Thank you for laughing at me, babe."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! That shit's hilarious!" She laughed for a while longer before finally getting back up. "Oh lordy...oh my goodness. Whew. Okay. My dad wants to talk to you. In person."
"Oh. Okay."
"About all this. I didn't really get a chance to give him the details but he knows the gist of it. I assume you'll want to talk to him about the book signing."
"Right. Okay. Yeah. I gotta get out of the house for a bit. I need to put a rush order on my own books, too. I can get another hundred copies of each one and sell them for a bit more maybe...although I don't know if anyone will actually want those…"
"They will. It's a good instinct, you should do it," Bea replied.
"All right, I-" He hesitated as he got a text message. He checked it. It was from Angus.
Everything all right?
"Oh fuck me," he groaned.
"What?" Bea asked.
"We never updated Angus and Gregg!"
"Oh fuck! Go on, I'll handle them," she said.
"You sure?"
"Yes, love! Go!"
"Okay."
They shared a quick kiss and he headed inside.
Bea's dad was really the last person that he needed to speak with today, and Trent was very much looking forward to locking himself in his office and pounding out as many words as he could. Already, his head was bursting with ideas and scenes and dialogue. He'd been keeping a little log of ideas for short stories because he'd had an idea for an anthology of such almost since the beginning. Now that he'd actually gotten the green light, he was deeply grateful to find that he was not just raring to go but almost desperate to get to writing.
He opted to drive up to the Ol' Pickaxe. Parking in the lot, he stepped out and surveyed the area for a brief moment. For a second, he wasn't even sure what he was looking for, only that he was indeed looking for something. After a moment, he had it: he was looking for Chris. Because this was where Chris had worked.
Despite how their...he wasn't sure what to call the social connection between them, relationship felt wrong, rivalry wasn't right either. Despite how it was shaking out into an unstable truce that seemed to hold in spite of everything, he was still paranoid about the guy. But he was nowhere to be seen, and that was fine. Slamming the door to his Jeep, he set a brisk pace and found himself within the Pickaxe in seconds.
Although it was largely emptied out, he had the odd impression of just having missed a rush, and from the exhausted, harried expressions on the faces of the men behind the counter, he figured it was probably true. Bea's dad's face actually lit up in relief when he saw Trent.
"Danny, take over, I'm taking five," he said.
"Yes, sir," Danny replied. Trent studied Danny for just a moment. He seemed fairly different from the awkward, uncomfortable young man who had delivered their Taco Buck that one night last winter. He seemed...a lot more sure of himself, and less put-upon.
"Come on," Allen grunted, jerking his head towards the back.
Trent followed without question. As he did, he glanced again at the other guy behind the counter. He was a tall tiger, kind of built, good-looking in a bland, small-town sort of way, maybe in his mid-thirties.
Something about the guy…
Made Trent paranoid.
He was positive he'd never seen him before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He shook it off as he headed out back into the alley with Allen. The man was already lighting up a cigarette. He took a deep inhale and then blew out a huge cloud of smoke.
"Goddamn that's better," he muttered. "Shit, I've gotta cut these damn things. Don't ever start smoking cigarettes...eh, sorry, ignore me." He puffed away a few more times, then seemed to collect himself. "Okay, I'm here. So Bea told me about Mae's parents. They're gonna lose the house, right?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Trent replied.
"That's the spirit. Okay, she said you needed to talk to me about the book signing?"
"Yes. I talked with my publisher, she's rush-ordering five hundred copies of my book. They should be here in three days. So I was thinking, do you think we could have the book signing on Sunday? All day?" he asked.
"Hmm...well...yeah," he murmured, nodding slowly. "Yeah, definitely. I could get it all set up and done by then. Get the word out. Clear some space. Yeah. You provide the books and the...yourself, and I'll do the rest."
"Okay, perfect. Thank you. So much. I'm going to be selling my main books for twenty bucks a pop and I'm going to try and get my other books, the ones I self-published, and sell those for a bit more. All of it going to the house fund." Trent began to say something else but then he looked at Allen and something snapped together in his head that he'd somehow completely missed. "Oh. My. Dear. God," he whispered.
"What? What's wrong?" Allen replied immediately.
"I...somehow completely missed the fact that this might be upsetting Bea more than she's letting on. You guys lost your house. Oh man."
"Oh...yeah. Well...maybe wait until after to bring it up. Bea would only feel bad about making it about herself in any way, but...yeah. Maybe gently approach it. That's a real sore spot for her."
"For both of you I imagine," Trent muttered.
"Yeah, but it's different for me. For a different reason...I don't really wanna talk about it."
"I understand."
"Thanks...also, uh, before I forget in all this mess, um, Bea's birthday is coming up."
"Yeah. The fourth. I've got a little party planned. Thankfully I've already got her present hidden over at Mae's parent's place."
"Okay, good. That's good. Uh...I don't really know how to talk about this, but it'd be negligent of me to avoid it. You're her boyfriend, so...you should know. If possible, try and steer her away from heavy drinking."
Trent frowned. "Um...all right. Any particular reason?"
"Yes. Bea's like her mom in a lot of ways. More than I think she realizes. But her mother...I love the woman, but she could not handle her alcohol. She could handle some light drinking, but if she hit her limit, boom. She'd drink her ass off, get into fights with everyone, start screaming and crying, puking. I hate talking about it because she worked so damned hard to leave it behind. Bea doesn't really know any of this, I think. We managed to get it under control before she was really grown and it never-I mean, I don't want to give you the wrong idea. She never hurt Bea or really yelled at her. Even falling down drunk she would've died to protect Bea. But I'm scared if she gets to drinking, she won't be able to stop, and it'll turn bad for everyone."
Trent thought about it. He'd seen nothing to indicate that so far, but he also hadn't seen Bea drink at all. He knew that she'd had like a light beer at some of the parties she'd gone to before meeting him, but she was always very responsible about it. He was inclined the believe that Bea herself had never been actually drunk before. Was Allen being paranoid, or was this a time bomb waiting to go off?
"I understand, I'll be watching out for her at her party," Trent replied.
"All right. I just want someone there, someone she'll listen to, to know about it. Although don't count on that. Good lord, I love Maggie with my heart and soul but that woman turned into an absolute bitch when she was shit-faced and could argue with me all damn night over nothing at all. She got real...high and mighty when she was drunk like that. Real 'don't tell me what to do I know better than you'...eh, anyway. Not that I was a saint when I was drunk either, but...just thought I'd tell you."
"I appreciate it," Trent replied. "But I imagine you're going to be there, right?"
"Probably," Allen replied, not meeting his eyes.
"Mister Santello…"
"At this point, you might as well just call me Allen, at least when it's just the two of us," he muttered.
"Fine. Allen. You should be at your daughter's birthday party, at least for a bit."
"I dunno if it's a good idea. Bea...I didn't do right by her. I...God, this is hard as fucking hell to talk about, especially to what amounts to my fucking son-in-law, but...I really shit the bed. I was a real asshole to her after her mom died. I don't even remember some of it. But I remember enough. And I made her come here and work this hell job for two fucking years while I sat on my ass and pretended like I was still in charge. And she's still mad. I know she is, and I can't even blame her."
"Allen…" Trent hesitated. This was a minefield if he'd ever been in one. In truth, it felt like the most dangerous thing he'd come up against in Possum Springs besides the cult. He forged on anyway. "I wasn't there, so I don't know, but...I can't even imagine how painful what happened was. For both of you. And there's not really a right way to grieve, especially because the world won't just pause for you, no matter how broken you are. From what Bea tells me...yeah, you could've handled it better, but I think she understands. She's mad, she's hurt, but she understands, and...I think the only thing you could do that's worse than what you've already done is to try and pull away. She doesn't hate you, Allen. She still loves you. She just...needs to feel like she can trust you again. I think…" he hesitated.
"Well," Allen said after a moment, now looking at him, "you said this much, you might as well say it all."
"You promise you won't swing on me?" he asked.
He chuckled, a little darkly. "Yeah, don't worry, Trent. Unless you're really asking for it, I ain't gonna swing you. I know you aren't a little punk shit trying to talk tough. Fuck, in some ways you're a lot more of a man than I was at your age. So come on, say what you gotta say."
"All right, here goes." He sighed softly. "For two years, your roles were reversed. Bea became the parent, and you became the child. Bea took care of you, and the household, because she had no choice. And that did some real damage to her."
He paused when Allen took a long, long pull on his cigarette. "Whew, that's rough," he muttered. "You called it, though. I'll be honest, if this was three months...I might've swung on you. But I've got anger problems, and I know that's...not a good thing. Sorry, keep going."
"Bea's mad, but she still loves you, and she still wants you in her life. I don't know when we're going to move away, but we will move away eventually, to Bright Harbor. Maybe in a year. Hard to say. But right now, she's, what, five minutes away? In a year or two, she'll be five hours away. Don't step out of her life thinking you're doing her a favor, because you aren't. I honestly don't know if she needs her dad anymore, but she wants her dad."
Allen stared at him for a long time. The silence stretched out uncomfortably. Finally, he looked down at his cigarette, then finished it off, stubbed it out on the bottom of his boot, and flicked it into a nearby dumpster.
"You know one of the first things that popped into my head when I saw you was, 'this kid looks like a real smartass'. I'm glad that I was only half right. You are smart. Real damn smart."
"Well...thanks. Also, because I know you care so much, I'll tell you a little secret related to Bea."
"What's that?" he asked, almost cautiously.
"You'll get to walk her down the aisle, just not while she's still living in Possum Springs."
"...really?" Trent nodded. "Huh. I thought for sure you were going to propose to that Borowski girl."
"Mae."
"Right. Mae."
"We're working it out, but I'm going to propose to Bea at some point, and we're going to have a proper wedding, because she wants one. And I know it'd make her so happy to have you there."
"I'll be there in my Sunday best," he replied, chuckling. "Definitely not how I pictured her life going, though, if I'm being completely honest."
"You know, given the last few months, I can safely say that none of us were picturing this even a year ago." Trent felt his pocket buzz, sighed, pulled out his phone. "Ah shit," he muttered.
"What?"
"Jacob's headed our way. He's helping out. I wanna be there when he gets there, and I also got some serious writing to do. Gonna be selling short stories on the internet to try and raise more money," he muttered.
"Well don't let me keep you, and if you remember, say hi to Jacob for me. The Wartons are real good people," Allen said.
"That they are," he agreed. "I'll try and remember. And I'll be in touch about the book signing."
"I'll get it all set up and start letting people know. Oh! See if Bea can whip up a flyer. That'll help get the word out big time."
"That's a great idea, I'll tell her, see what we can come up with. All right, I'm gonna head out now. Thanks for everything."
"Really I should be saying that to you. I, uh...I'll think about what you said, but I also think you're probably right, and I don't really need to be doing much thinking, I need to be doing, and talking with my daughter."
"You should. Let her know how you feel. Be honest with her...I mean, uncomfortably honest. She will appreciate it."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Dammit. I hate talking about my damn feelings, but...damn if it's not important. Yeah, all right. Now get outta here, I've had enough talking about my feelings today."
He chuckled. "All right."
They headed back inside. Trent gave one more look to the tiger behind the counter, cursing softly as he realized he'd meant to ask about the man, but there were more people inside, and Allen was already heading over to help, so he let it go for now.