Page 49 of Weight of Guilt

“Nobody does.” Paige lowered herself into the chair across the table and laid one hand on the wood. “I guess you heard they found my uncle yesterday.”

“I did. I’m so sorry. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.”

“I’m glad you came. You were always a good listener, even when you were little. You’d stand there at that merchandise table with your daddy and let old women tell you their problems, and you never once looked at the door.”

Wren forced a smile. She remembered those days well.

Somewhere nearby, a phone buzzed, then stopped. Then it started again.

Wren waited for Paige to answer, but she didn’t move.

“You’re not going to get that?” she finally asked.

“It’s the funeral home. Or the insurance man. Or somebody calling to ask what I need.” Paige pressed her eyes closed as if the thought of answering was too much to bear. “What I need is for the phone to quit.”

“That makes sense,” Wren said. “I know this is a lot.”

“Uncle Roy didn’t leave a will,” Paige said. “Sixty-eight years old, and he never once thought he’d be the one going. I’ve had my gallbladder out and my knee done and a scare in 2011, and that man acted like I was the one on borrowed time.”

That sounded like Uncle Roy.

“Are you handling all of it alone?” Wren asked.

“I’m all there is.” Paige shrugged one shoulder. “Mama’s been gone nine years, and she was his only sister. I have some cousins in Ohio who’ll send a card.” She reached over and squared a casserole dish to line up with the one beside it. “I’m back on the register Tuesday. Whatever doesn’t get done in the next two days doesn’t get done.”

Paige worked at the local grocery store, so Wren saw her on occasion. Maybe she should have reached out more. But it was too late for that now.

“My uncle should have driven out to your daddy’s place and tried to make things right with him. It was such a shame to see their friendship ruined like it was.”

Wren’s breath caught. Was this her opening? Her chance to find answers? “I don’t even know what happened between them.”

“Neither do I, honey, and I asked him more than once. He always told me the problem wasn’t mine to carry. Which is about the most Roy Callahan thing a person could say.”

Yes, it was, Wren mused. But that also meant she wouldn’t find any answers quickly.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Wren swallowed hard and focused on Paige. “Did you have any guesses as to what the fight was about?”

“I assumed it was money.” Paige’s mouth tightened. “But I have no good reason to think that. It’s just a guess. But isn’t that what everything boils down to? Money, love, or power? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t love.”

Wren looked at the carnations instead of at Paige. They were dyed a blue that never grew naturally on anything. Roy would have laughed at them. Then he’d have carried them into the sales office and set them on the counter where everybody had to walk past, and told everyone that Wren Loveless brought him flowers.

Roy had a larger-than-life personality.

She looked back at Paige. “I still have the bracelets you made me.”

Paige’s hands went still. “You do not.”

“They’re in a jewelry box in my closet.” Wren turned her wrist over, like they might be there. “Purple and green. I told you they were my favorite colors, and you never made me another bracelet that wasn’t those colors after that.”

“Well.” Paige’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s about all I was good for at those concerts. I had to do something to feel useful.”

“You watched us. Nora says you’re the whole reason none of us ended up under a church van.”

“My uncle paid me five dollars a night to help out.” Paige laughed, but the sound came apart halfway through. “Five dollars. I thought I was rich.”