After that day, Yolanda Taylor seemed to return to normal.
Half a month passed quickly, and December was starting to get into winter in Borden City.
Gwen Fox had wanted to find an excuse to take Yolanda Taylor to the hospital for a checkup, but Lewis reminded him that the anniversary of Kipling Taylor’s death was in two days.
When he was young, he was paranoid, hating Kipling Taylor and even the Rodriguez family, but the fire seemed to have burned away all his paranoia.
Yolanda Taylor was right, he was actually a very selfish person who easily succumbed to the warmth of reality.
Regardless of what happened back then, his mom and dad have left him for more than twenty years, and now that Kipling Taylor is dead and gone, leaving him and Yolanda Taylor alone, he has no other thoughts now except for how to make Yolanda Taylor stay willingly.
Thinking about Kipling Taylor, Gwen Fox realizes that she doesn’t feel anything anymore.
But for Yolanda Taylor, it was different.
He didn’t dare mention Kipling Taylor in front of her eyes, much less the anniversary of the death.
Gwen Fox didn’t think that he would have a day when he was afraid of this and that.
Hanging up the phone, he looked at Yolanda Taylor, who was sitting not far away in the sun, and raised his leg to walk over.
Today’s Tuesday, Yolanda Taylor didn’t go inside the store, he purposely came back to have lunch with her.
“Thinking about what?”
The sun was nice today, but Yolanda Taylor’s hands were still cold.
He touched it and couldn’t help but squat down in front of her eyes.
He had gotten this swing set made last year, and Yolanda Taylor had once told him that the happiest thing she did as a child was swinging, because every time her father, Kipling Taylor, came to pick her up after school, he would accompany her to play on the swing set inside the park for a while.
“Gwen Fox, do you know why I love swings?”
He paused slightly with his fingers, “Because of your dad.”
“Well, the anniversary of my dad’s death is in two days.”
Her tone was light, and there was even a faint smile on the edge of her mouth.
Gwen Fox’s heart, however, was lifted, not up.
He looked up at her and buried his head down in her knees, “I’m sorry.”
Yolanda Taylor looked down at his fine dark hair and couldn’t help but lift her hand and run it through, “It’s been so many years, I’d forgotten about it actually.”
“The day of my parents’ accident was my birthday, they had just gotten off the plane, and it was because they wanted to be back before twelve to cut the cake with me that they asked the driver to drive faster.”
He just didn’t realize that on that day, instead of birthday wishes, he was waiting for bad news.
Yolanda Taylor had never heard him say this before, and now that he confessed, he actually felt his eyes a bit glazed over, “It seems like we’ve been entangled for almost ten years as well.”
She said, pausing for a moment “It’s the anniversary of my dad’s death on Friday, why don’t you come with me to see him.”
Gwen Fox looked up at her, neither of them said anything, and it was only half a second before he nodded, “Yes, I should.”
As it should be, he married his daughter, and the past was written off.
The day of Kipling Taylor’s death anniversary, the weather in Borden City was much better than that year, no snow, and the temperature was five or six degrees warmer.
Cold still, but much warmer than that year.
Yolanda Taylor changed into all black and stood in the doorway of her room waiting for Gwen Fox to come out.
Kipling Taylor was buried in the suburbs, over an hour’s drive away.
It wasn’t much of a day, there weren’t many people at the cemetery, and Yolanda Taylor didn’t stay long at the cemetery, just stood there for half an hour before returning.
“Gwen Fox.”
The car had just started up when Yolanda Taylor, who was on the side, called out to him out of the blue.
He looked back at her, “What’s wrong?”
“I heard what you said the other day.” The day before Ham Rodriguez had gotten drunk and come over to the cottage looking for Gwen Fox.
She had already fallen asleep, only when she got up in the middle of the night to drink water, she realized that Gwen Fox was not around, it just so happened that the sound downstairs was a little too loud, so she pushed the door and walked out, and just as she walked to the second floor, she heard Gwen Fox telling Ham Rodriguez that he would not let her go.
Upon hearing her words, Gwen Fox blushed.
But Yolanda Taylor had a calm expression on her face, “You won’t let me go.” She said, paused, and looked at him while crying, “That night, you were the one who let my mom go, weren’t you? Also, your mom and dad’s accident was because your uncle bought a murderer, wasn’t it?”
“Y-you know that how?”
Gwen Fox blanched, and subconsciously thought of Xenia Davis: “It was Xenia Davis, she told you that didn’t she?”
“It doesn’t matter who said it, since you don’t want to let me go, I’m not leaving.”
Yolanda Taylor looked at him and smiled a little, only the tears kept coming out of the corners of her eyes and it was frightening to watch.
Gwen Fox tried to stop the car, and that’s when he realized there was something wrong with the brakes.
He stiffened and inclined his head at her, “You moved the brakes?”
“I thought you didn’t want me to go?” With tears inside her eyes, Yolanda Taylor could no longer see Gwen Fox clearly.
She raised her hand and wiped the tears from her eyes and looked straight at him, “Gwen Fox, you’re the one who didn’t let me go, so don’t blame me, and in the future, we’ll probably all be at peace.”
Gwen Fox’s face was green and white, “Are you crazy, why are you doing this? Do you know you will die!”
He wasn’t afraid to die, she wanted him to die, one word was all it took, why would she do something like this to die with her?
It was like that five years ago with that fire, and it was like that today.
“I know! Of course I know! But you tell me, what can I do? I can’t be cruel, there’s no way I can be cruel, but you won’t let me go, none of you will let me go, and I’m going to have to drag you down with me, Gwen Fox!”
Yolanda Taylor became agitated, and several words broke out of her voice as she said them, and the man shook with a tremor.
Gwen Fox slammed on the brakes again, and after realizing it was useless, he was only able to sulk, avoiding car after car.
Running red light after red light, fortunately the traffic on the roads in the suburbs was different than in the city, and ten short minutes felt like ten years.
Yolanda Taylor was already waiting to die, she didn’t say another word, leaned back and drove by the car window as everything continued to fly by, slowly closing her eyes.
It was over, all of this, finally.
Gwen Fox managed to get the car to the dock and pulled out her cell phone to send Lewis a voice message.
Yolanda Taylor listened and just tugged at the corner of her mouth.
After he sent the voice, he inclined his head to look at her, “The car will go into the sea later, don’t look back, swim upstream and live well, Dear.”
As soon as his words fell, the car rushed straight from the pier into the sea.
Even though she had already prepared for it, Yolanda Taylor still felt the fear of death in these few seconds.
She subconsciously looked towards Gwen Fox, and when she saw him suddenly leaning over to open the car door, her whole body was stunned: “Gwen Fox–” Bitter seawater poured into her lips, and before Yolanda Taylor could say anything, she was was pushed hard outward.
But she couldn’t swim, and just as she was pushed out, her whole body went straight down.
Then the next second, she was being held by Gwen Fox.
In that desperation, besides the salty smell of seawater, was the rusty smell of blood.
Yolanda Taylor was being carried up just as the workers working on the dock ran by.
The worker’s hands shook with fear when he saw the man’s head covered in blood, and the man froze for a moment.
“Save her.”
A low hiss came from the worker, who reacted by reaching out and pulling the woman with him.
It had been a few short minutes, but it had taken all of Gwen Fox’s strength, and he couldn’t hold on much longer as Yolanda Taylor was being pulled, spitting out a mouthful of blood and opening his mouth to say, “Dear, I love you.” before Yolanda Taylor was dragged fully up. The worker pulls the woman to shore, only to turn around and realize the man is no longer on the surface.