Page 14 of Love At Peace

I wasn’t sure if it was enough to make me want to stay for good. A childhood’s worth of no welcome wasn’t something that could be erased quickly. So far, I was in the “running” for that job Janelle mentioned. I told Roarke definitively that I’d be leaving, but that was an error in counting the chickens before they hatched. I hadn’t interviewed with anyone. I hadn’t even officially submitted an application for transfer. The job wasn’t available to be applied to yet.

Still, I’d told him that with the frantic need to get away. To leave. I refused to stay where David could linger.

The potential irony wasn’t lost on me though. Just when it could really seem like Burton was accepting me, I’d leave again? I wasn’t sure how long I’d let my past dictate all of my future.

At the end of the day, Fergus stopped me in my office. “Hey, I know we said we’d go back to the hardware store and get the donations from their box after we were done here, but I forgot that I have an appointment for a teeth cleaning. I just, like, totally forgot about it.”

I dismissed him with a wave. “Eh. No worries. I’ll get it on my way out of here.” I doubted there would be anything in it to collect this week anyway. They had a low rate of donations.

“You sure?”

I nodded. When we walked around and did our stops earlier, we found a sign taped to the door about a late lunch and that they’d reopen in an hour. So, we’d planned to tackle that business at the end of the day. “Yeah. It won’t take me more than a couple of minutes.”

We parted ways and I drove the short distance to Burton’s only hardware store. A younger guy had bought it out from the old cranky guy I remembered from before. Jonas was all right, but he was one of those kinds of people who always seemed to be in a hurry to do something else.

“Hey, Heather,” he greeted when I came in.

“Just here to grab the donations.”

He huffed, checking a print-out of what looked like inventory. “I doubt there’s a damn thing in there. Maybe after payday,” he joked.

I smiled and used the key Janelle had given me to check anyway. “You called it.”

He looked up. “Does Janelle actually make you check those things every week?”

“She doesn’t. But the county officials in charge of it expect routine checks. So...” I shrugged.

“I like that. It isn’t often that people do what’s expected of them even if it’s kinda pointless.”

“Like doing the right thing when no one’s looking?”

He smiled slightly. “Yeah. Integrity. It’s lost nowadays.” Then he furrowed his brow, standing straighter. “Hey. Speaking of people who say they’ll do something and don’t...” He lowered to look under the counter. The long cardboard box he set on top of the surface sounded heavy, landing with a thud. “Eric said he would be in to get this adaptor and he hasn’t gotten it yet.”

“Oh.” I frowned. “Um...”

“It’s something he wanted for the bathroom in that house he’s been flipping forever.”

“Ah. Well, I can drop it off to him if you want.” I didn’t make a habit of seeing my cousin, but it’d been a while.

Jonas shook his head. “Nah. He’s gotta pay first. I called him when it came in. I left reminders.” He frowned and rubbed his jaw, seeming perplexed. “It’s not like him not to come grab it like this.”

“Maybe he’s been busier at the ranch than not.”

“Nah. It’s been almost two weeks now. He’s been looking forward to this part coming in because it’s not always in stock. If he’s not here to get it soon, I’ve gotta let the next customer who’s contacted me about it have it. I reminded him about how in demand this particular brand is when he ordered it.”

“That’s weird.” I looked at the box again, as if it would offer up clues. I couldn’t claim to know much about my cousin, but I was aware of how much pride he seemed to put into flipping that house.

“I know he was sick a while back.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I know. But when I left a reminder, he was already getting better.”

The longer I let this settle in my mind, the less it became about the part. I grew uneasy about this oddity.

“It’s just not like him,” Jonas said with a shrug.

Worry kicked in. I wouldn’t panic until I knew more, but I couldn’t ignore this sense of dread about my cousin.

Calm down.