Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

can change that."
They were silent for a while; then her mom drew back and
kissed her cheek. "Let's talk about it in the morning."
Jenny nodded. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. We all want her back."
"It's not just Grace." Jenny's voice was the softest whisper. "I
miss Alicia, too. Losing Grace makes everything worse."
"I know It's the same for me."
Jenny studied her mother in the moonlit room as the sobs
came once more. There had been a time when jenny doubted her
mother would ever understand. But in the past three years they'd
become incredibly close. Jenny was grateful. "I love you, Mom."
"Love you, too." Her mother took hold of Jenny's hands. "Let's pray"
They whispered in the darkness, begging God to bring them
both peace in light of Grace's absence. And Alicia's. And to help
198
H A L F W A Y T O F 0 R E V E R
enny's nightmares go away. When they were done, her mom blew
her a kiss and headed for the bedroom door. "See you in the
morning." They returned to their separate beds, and jenny glanced at the
clock. It was just after three in the morning. Though she was tired,
enny lay awake, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the
dream. The counselor had told her that the giant white pickup seemed symbolic, because jenny had never
wanted to hate Brian
Wesley over what happened.
Even that first year after the accident, when her mother was determined to see the man locked up for life
for what he'd done, Jenny couldn't hate him. She'd never hated anyone in her life and feelings that strong
scared her. The pain in her heart was great enough simply dealing with the loss of her dad and Alicia
without adding hatred to the mix.
But since she refused to hate the drunk driver, her fear and anger about what happened somehow focused
on the white pickup Brian Wesley was driving. After all, that was the only thing Jenny remembered about
the accident. One minute she was talking to Alicia about school starting the next day and what teachers
they hoped to have and which boys might have changed over the summer.
The next minute she saw a white pickup barreling down on them.
Then there was nothing but darkness.
Jenny rolled over in bed and curled up as small as she could. It was a good thing she had no memory of
what happened next. She'd heard the entire story, and that was all the information she needed. If she'd
been conscious she didn't think she would have survived.
The idea of seeing Alicia dead at the scene from head injuries and her dad trapped in the car while
firemen used torches to cut
201 through their car and get him out was more than she could take in. To hear him gasp for breath,
knowing that the paramedics were frantically trying to save his life...
She thanked God she'd seen none of it.
Her injuries had been minor-a concussion and a broken
arm. And the next day when she woke in a hospital bed, her
mother was at her side. It was then that she found out what had
happened. Since the last thing she remembered was the white