“It’s old. But I’ll talk.”
Mike nodded. “So, he’s committed. And willing to bring his family down.”
“Why now?” Tammy asked.
“I ... Someone close to me made me want to be better. Running is selfish. Facing it isn’t.”
Silence stretched out across the townsfolk.
It was broken by Tammy.
“All right, fair enough. That’s enough for me.”
“Really?”
“Me too.” Dale shrugged. “So, can we all go back to our jobs now?”
I blinked. “You’re all just fine with it? Even after being upset?”
“‘Fine’ isn’t the word. It’s a shock, but you’re one of us, so we’ll deal.” Tammy shrugged too.
Kerry turned to me. “We can’t promise we won’t mess up, but we can promise we’ll grow.”
“Damn, she’s emotionally mature.” Tammy laughed. “Who knew?”
“You’re a good kid too,” Dale added. “You don’t go to Walmart.”
“And you told us.” Mark smiled. “That was brave. Good on you.”
The crowd slowly dissipated, completely unaware of the way my world was tilted.
“Did that really just happen?” I asked Piper.
“I think it did.” She slowly turned to me. “There were a lot of towns you could’ve ended up in. Maybe this was just the right one.”
I turned to see one last person waiting for me with her arms crossed.
“Kelsey,” I said, taking in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” she asked slowly.
“Not telling you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I knew something was up. That’s not what I’m mad at.”
“What are you mad about then?”
“You closed the shop.”
“I did.”
“You disappeared.” Her lip wobbled. “Without even a goodbye? Come on, man. I know I’m not Piper, but you were really just gonna leave like that?”
“I always thought it would be for the best.” I looked at the ground. Suddenly, her frown earlier made sense. “I know I was wrong.”
Kelsey sniffed and turned to Piper. “You talked some sense into him?”
“I did,” Piper replied.
