Page 5 of Small Town, Big Storm

My head shoots up and…

Time stops.

Seven years vanish.

I’m that kid on Cedar Hollow beach again, lusting after a girl in a skimpy red bikini.

“You okay?”Poppy Baker asks softly.

“Great.”It’s dry, and sharp enough to wound.

And she winces as though I’ve done exactly that.

As though I’ve woundedher.

Nodding, she turns away, and though I open my mouth to apologize, guilt rippling through me, I find the words don’t come.

Can’tcome.

Because just then a little girl with dark brown hair plaited into neat pigtails skips up to Poppy and takes her hand.She’s wearing a simple black dress, tights, and shining black shoes, but I barely register all that.

Because she’s the spitting image of Poppy.

And because her striking gray eyes flick toward me as she asks,

“Mom, can we go get ice cream now?”

Two

Poppy

“What’sit gonna take to get a refill around here, Pop?”Tommy shouts over the din of the crowd.

Saturday night at Sully’s Bar is always busy.

Probably because there’s not much else to do in Cedar Hollow on any given night, but most especially on atSaturdaynight.

Funeral black is all around me but the dark clothing does nothing to dim the spirit of the room.

Norm Harrison wasn’t well-liked.

Not by me.

Not by anyone in this town.

And now that he’s in the ground, we can all move on.

I, for one, will be happy to never have him glaring at me from the corner of the bar, silently—and sometimes not so silently—judging me for taking too long to serve him.

Iwillmiss his monthly tab though.

No one drank as much as Norm Harrison.

“Yeah!I’ll take another too, Pop!”Roger calls.

I raise my hand to silently tell them I’ve heard the requests then fill a glass with soda water for Tommy, pull Roger’s lager, and mix up a couple of cocktails for the group of ladies in the corner.

“Did you hear that Storm pitched a fit when Rain told him he had to stay around for the reading of the will?”Roger says.