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I usher the boys back to the front of the store.
“You need some help with those boys,” Dad says.
I wish I could argue with the man, but I know when I’m in over my head.
The ache his words bring burns deep inside of me like an acid that threatens to burn from the inside out.
My mother would’ve loved to be the one to care for them while Dad and I get the hardware store ready for sale. Hell, if she were here, he probably wouldn’t even consider selling the place. They spent their lives here together. This place was as much her pride and joy as it was his.
Tragically, we lost her a year and a half ago. My boys didn’t get much time with her, something I’ll regret for the rest of my life. I don’t know that they even have actual memories of her other than me showing them pictures and telling them stories.
The day this little town lost three of its citizens to the very same violence they have always tried to keep out, should’ve been the day everyone here opened their eyes to the reality that no one is safe in society anymore, but they just doubled down on their small-town living. Lindell may be safer than most places in the world, but that day proved that we weren’t untouchable.
“She might be interested.”
“What?” I ask, my father’s voice pulling me out of the grief that threatens to take over.
“Madison Kelly.”
“What about Madison Kelly?”
“She’s back home. You’d know that if you came to visit every once in a while.”
“We see each other every day here,” I argue. “And you’re at my house every Sunday working on the boys’ room.”
Avoiding talking about Madison is enough to draw his suspicion, and I watch as he lowers his paper and folds it haphazardly in his lap, giving me his full attention in a moment I wish he was distracted.
“Madison used to watch kids.”
“When she was in high school, Dad. She’s an adult now.”
“She’s living back home with her parents. I imagine she might need a job.”
The Kellys live right next door to my dad’s house. Madison, their only child, is three years younger than me. My senior year, she was a freshman in high school. Although we live in a very small town, where everyone knows everyone, we didn’t run in the same circles. She wasn’t the type to want to hang out with the jocks and athletes. If anything, she went out of her way to avoid our group, her nose always scrunched up when she saw me in my yard. I have no clue why, but the girl hated me. It never sat well with me, but I was also too busy to ever try and figure out why she had such a distaste for me.
“I’m not going to gossip with you about Madison Kelly.”
Dad scoffs. “I don’t gossip.”
“And just what do all of you old men talk about every morning at The Brew and Chew?”
“The weather,” Dad answers.
It’s my turn to scoff. “I’ll figure out something with the boys.”
Chapter 2
Madison
Tears of frustration prick at my eyes, the burn so bad it fills my nose with its stinging threat.
Covering my ears doesn’t completely stop the sound of rhythmic tapping.
At twenty-eight years old, this should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I shouldn’t have to be woken up by the sounds of my parents getting busy. It should be illegal, a criminal act punishable by imprisonment.
I hum as I reach for my phone and earbuds. As quickly as I can manage, I find an audiobook to listen to, but then the sound of the couple in the book going to town fills my ears. In a flash, this whole morning ruins romance novels for me. I’ll never be able to listen to another scene between fictional characters without my brain plugging my parents into the story. I could literally gag right now.
I switch to a crime podcast and bury my head back under my pillow.
