He knew for a fact that Harvey was from Cleveland. Unable to take it any more, he slipped away from the fire pit. Amy watched him go and turned her at...ention back to Harvey.The old man continued, “So anyway, she’s pregnant. Terrified at the prospect of living with such an ugly woman for the rest of his life, that fellow goes off and commits suicide. The result of that unholy union was my Grandfather.”“Suicide? You said that he was killed in a gunfight defending the honor of your. And maybe the presence of Orlie -- and Maria -- would temper his anger to some degree."Maria?" I said.She was driving this time. "Yes?" If we get through this -- if we can reach some kind of truce with your Dad," I said."Yes?" I wondered if. Well, I've been thinking about, y'know, maybe asking you if you might -- umm" Jesus, Alex! Spit it out!" I've been thinkingabout-maybeaskingyou-to-maybemarryme?" I blurted."Marry you?" Yeah." So -- are you asking?" Yeah." Now?" Yeah. I mean -- not marrying. The whole place wasfull of cheerleaders. About half were our school, most of the rest werefrom the Catholic High school. Some were from Salem State. Dale said,"Some of the Salem State Cheerleaders went to high school here. Theybring their whole team here to help us. We raise funds for literacy.The donors pay us a dime for each pin we knock down. The alley ownerlets us bowl for free for this. He calls it advertising."We all ordered root beer and French fries. For some reason, we allblacked out.. She knew she was babbling, but didn’t really want him to know how desperately she missed him. She had just sat writing him a letter, but now confronted with him, her fears of dismissal weighed heavily on her heart and mind. He asked to see her the next day, and she agreed. Abby arrived at her house before he did. Pulling her car into the driveway, she took a deep breath before opening the door and walking up to her front steps. She stood at the bottom of her steps for a moment, a smile coming.