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"You kno you said you wanted to still be the first at sohed a little and nodded, buether "There is a really important first I want you to do for me while you’re in Texas"

She pulled back so ere staring at each other and I think she had to have seen in reed withouther what it was

"I’ll do whatever you want rin and explained to her what I needed for her to do for me By the time I was done, we both had tears in our eyes and needed to hold on to one another for just a second

The doors behind us whooshed open and Poppy heeled out looking like a shattered doll I would help her heal and so would everyone else in ed and it was only together that we learned the value of ourselves and what unconditional love and acceptance looked like It was the perfect place for Poppy to forget about the past and find her peace and her future

I helped load one Cruz sister into the taxi and kissed the other one good-bye with everything I had in ain I was taking care of Poppy and watching Sale Only I knew this ti fate and bad luck, I was thanking both of those things for bringing these women into my life for better or worse

Whatever happened frole moment I had with everyone I loved

CHAPTER 20

Salem

I HADN’T STEPPED FOOT inside of a church since I left Loveless a lifetiion I believed that faith and the trust in soer than yourself was an i life could be at ti behind hours spent in a pew listening to ation

It was an odd feeling to be back as an adult It felt different knowing I could get up and leave at any point in the sermon that I wanted to Now that I was out from under his control, lived a full life beyond him and this town, his words seeht ious conviction and driven by faith, as I watched him at the pulpit noondered if it was all just an act

Sure he was just as passionate as he always had seemed His words echoed frothere, so I could see clearly now that ti or all-powerful like he had to ht His eyes were just a little bit too wide and the cadence of his voice was just a little too practiced and theatrical to ring true All his words about love and respect, about doing God’s work and living a life of sacrifice, hit a chord in"do as I say and not as I do" It was hypocritical and I wished instead of being wrapped up in er I could have seen him and his dictates for what they were I felt like it probably could have savedthe way

Myof the service and took a seat in the back She kept shooting nervous looks over her shoulder atto juiven moment and lay all my fae I just kept s at her with a lot of teeth I didn’t see any reason to put her mind at ease, not after the way she had sold Poppy out to ato do as best for her Every tiulped and nervously looked back at ured he kneas there as well His entire seriveness and sin The sins of the body The sins of theand the sins of parents and children He talked a good gaivable by God and then turned my stomach when he offered a prayer for Oliver Martinez and re inside the picture-perfect, sive and judge Oliver for his misdeeds Not one word about Poppy or the horror she had suffered and he most definitely didn’t mention that he was the primary reason Oliver had found et up and march up the aisle to the front of the church and knock him off the altar I wanted to stand on the pew and screa to a fraud and that ht his opinion and his beliefs were just as important as the deity he clai I sat there with h narrowed eyes

I kneas trying to get a rise out of me in front of all of these people he considered his sheep, his blind followers He had long since declared odless and not worthy of his guidance and tutelage, so I wasn’t about to prove hiht in any way, shape, or form