The Outliers (The Outskirts Duet #2)

I stood up to leave when Maddy came into the room and gave me a stern nod. "I should go. Thanks for having me, and thanks for telling me the story of how you met your husband.”

She smiled at me sweetly. "That’s no bother at all. I love telling that story. Half the people in this town are tired of it already. Thanks for coming to visit. Make sure to come by again," she said. "Maybe Sunday? On Sundays, I make my famous peach pie. It's Critter's favorite."

I wiped my wet face with the heel of my hand. "I'd like that very much, if you're sure it's alright with you."

"Of course. I'd love that. See you Sunday," she said cheerily. "And don't worry about that adorable little boy of yours. Finn is welcome to come take sunflowers whenever he would like. We’ve got plenty."

Finn.

I gave her a small farewell wave then waited until I was down the hall almost to the front door before I whispered. "Bye, Mom." I didn't know how I'd feel seeing her that way, but as I watched her slip back into a place where I never existed I never expected for it to feel as if she had died all over again.



I ran into Finn's arms the second I was back on the porch. I buried my face into the soft cotton of his t-shirt and didn't pull away until I heard Critter's voice.

"Sawyer?"

I turned around to face Critter who stood from his rocking chair with a knowing look etched in the lines of his face.

The face of my father.

We stood there, staring at one another for what felt like an eternity.

"Critter?" I asked, as if I were seeing him for the first time.

He rocked forward slightly on the balls of his feet, he folded his hands behind his back. For such a tall strong man my heart lurched at how vulnerable he appeared. "We heard you in there with her," Finn said from behind me.

Critter nodded. "You did good, kid. But if you don't mind, I'd...why is this so fucking hard," he grumbled. He took a deep breath. "I'd like for you to call me, Dad." his voice cracked on the last word.

My heart burst open, unleashing a powerful flood of emotions along with uncontrollable tears. I fell to my knees. Before I knew it, Critter had closed the distance between us and lifted me up off my knees, pulling me into his strong arms against his chest. He smelled like cigar smoke and cologne. That's what my dad smelled like and I'd remember it forever.

I was sobbing so hard it prevented me from speaking, but Critter watched me as I looked up and mouthed the words, "Hi, Dad."

He lifted me up, swaying me back and forth as my feet dangled off the porch. "Hey, kid." My tears soaked through his shirt as we squeezed each other tightly and he peppered kisses on the top of my head. "Welcome home, kiddo." He said on a choked sob. "Finally. Welcome fucking home."

We stayed that way for a long time, stuck together, reunited. Father and daughter.

And we cried.

We cried because we both finally knew the truth. We cried for the time lost between us. And although neither one of us said it out loud, I knew that somewhere in the time between those first tears falling and the sun sinking deep into the horizon, we were both crying for her.



Sawyer

The sun had just settled down for the night. The star littered black sky had officially taken its turn guarding the earth.

Finn, Critter and I were still sitting on Critter’s front porch. Critter and Finn were sipping beers. I settled for an iced tea after deciding that beer was an acquired taste, and I hadn't yet had the time to acquire it.

"Do you...do you need me to help take care of her?" I asked Critter. “My mother. It isn’t fair for you have to do it all alone.”

He shook his head and took a sip of his beer. "Listen, kiddo, you've spent your entire life looking after your mother. You've done a good job. You did more than most would in your situation. Hell, you stayed when most would've cut bait and got out." He leaned forward on his elbows. "How about you step aside and let me do it for once? Besides, I've missed out on taking care of that woman for two decades. I've got a lot to make up for."

"I haven't asked you how you're holding up during all of this. So, how are you holding up?"

"I'm hanging in there. She's back but she's not completely back. It's going to take a little while to set her to rights again but I won't stop until my sunflower is back to one hundred percent."

"Are you the one who gave her this pendent?" I asked, holding up the sunflower hanging from the chain on my neck.

"Yeah," he said, looking wistfully over to the sunflower field where the sun had just started to set below the tops of the tall flower, backlighting them and giving them a beautiful haunting glow. "I proposed to your mama in that field. We fell in love in that field. We...well, some things are better left unsaid."

I laughed and sipped my tea.

"There are things about my past you should know," Critter said. Things I don't talk about openly. But you're my daughter and you should know these kinds of things about your old man. About who I am and what I've done in my past."

"Like what?" I asked hesitantly, chewing nervously on the inside of my cheek.

"I haven't always been the best model citizen of this town. I've done things. A lot of things. Some of them bad, really bad. Spent a few years in state prison back in my twenties."

"So, you fell into the bad crowd in your youth?" I suggested.

Critter shook his head and looked at me from over his beer bottle. "No, I was the person people fell into. I was the bad crowd or at least, I ran the bad crowd."

"Does my mother know?" I asked.

"Your mother knows everything about me." Critter chuckled. "Every ugly and dirty detail. And she loves me despite of it and sometimes because of it."

"If it didn't matter to her then it didn't matter to me."

"I don't understand why she's like this now when she wasn't this way before," Finn chimed in.

Critter shook his head. "The shrink here thinks she's been holding so much above her head and over the years the weight of it grew heavier and heavier. When we got her back here and she knew you were okay it was like her knees buckled and it finally all came crashing down around her."

"Do you think she'll ever be back to...normal? Whatever that might be?"

"Normal," Critter chuckled at the word. "And as for your mother, she's a force stronger than any damn hurricane I've ever encountered. She just needs a little rest. A little time. There is only so much one body and mind can process. She'll come back to us eventually. I'm certain of it."

"Can I ask you something?"

Critter nodded.

"She was gone for two decades. Why didn't you ever remarry or have kids?"

Critter sighed and looked to his hands for a moment before answering. "Because the kind of love your mother and I have is not the kind you can recover from. It's not a cold. It's not temporary. It's the kind that becomes a part of yourself. Like the blood in your veins. Getting over your mother just wasn't possible.

"You really do love her," I lamented.

"Yes, with everything I have and more. And you," Critter added, with watery eyes. "I can't make up for years of not being your dad, but I'd sure like to try, kiddo."