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Alina had come home.
Finally, she’d come home.
I could hear them talking, my father and Mrs. Elmers. She was talking over him like what she had to say was more important than what anyone else did. She had the tongue of a viper but the smile of an assassin, which perfectly matched her lack of empathy and the insincere, false apologies she made. She was also the biggest cog in the rumor mill this town thrived on.
“I expect Mr. Wilson, bless him, would be knowledgeable about these sorts of things.” Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, grating on my nerves.
“Ah, Cal, can you help Mrs. Elmers out to her car, please?”
Hearing my approach, Mrs. Elmers pivoted, her lips curving up into that smile. Behind her, Dad rolled his eyes.
He was a good businessman. He’d run the hardware store for over thirty years on his own. A minor heart attack last winter forced him to slow down at last. Begrudgingly, he’d agreed to let me buy into the business.
For the most part, we’d gotten along. Working with my old man wasn’t all bad. There was comfort in working together, and knowing I wouldn’t find him on the floor of the storeroom after another episode was all the reassurance I needed to know I’d made the right decision in pushing for the partnership.
Heaving the bags of soil over my shoulder, I waited for her to lead the way.
Back inside, I was loading the last of the stock onto the shelves when Dad came down the aisle to me. I knew he’d already followed his decades-old ritual of locking the front doors before closing out the till.
“This town never ceases to surprise me.” He reached into the box, grabbed a couple of cans, and worked beside me to stock the shelves. “More specifically, the people. Gossip mongers, the lot of them.”
Bending down to collect the empty box, I dismantled it and laid it on top of the others.
“You know what they’re like, liberal with the truth. It’s a dull day if they don’t have something to gossip about.”
Loading up the cart, I dismissed my father’s dislike for the nosey women of our small town.
“Besides, Mr. Wilson is wise enough to this town to pay them no mind.”
“Mr. Wilson? What’s he got to do with any of this?” There was a look of puzzlement on my father’s face at my question, one I was sure to be a reflection of my own.
Somewhere between stacking the shelves and folding up the empty boxes, our conversation had hit a fork in the road.
“Mrs. Elmers was, in her own way, informing me that ‘the murderer’s daughter’ was back in town.” He used air quotes around the gossip nickname.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as my temper flared. This town was at its finest, spreading hurtful words without consideration or empathy for the people they talked about. It didn’t take an ounce of truth to hold them back from spreading the words, keeping the innocent caged.
The truth behind Alina and her mother was, and never would be, a grace these people adhered to when talking about their past.
“I saw her earlier.” I tried to get my voice even, defeating the contempt of Mrs. Elmers and her cronies. “When I went to get the milk.”
“How was she?”
I felt my father’s eyes on me, the curiosity and concern in his voice surprising me when he asked after Alina. It wasn’t a softness I was familiar with when it came to anyone other than my mother.
“I have no idea. She hightailed it out of there faster than Mario Andretti. But I can’t expect she’d be too interested in speaking to anyone in this town.”
“No, I suppose not.” His tone was thoughtful, tapering off at the end as if he were absorbed into his thoughts.
My dad was sharply perceptive but said little. He didn’t see the sense of speaking just to hear one’s voice. If he had something to say, you braced yourself because he’d damn well tell you what he thought, and in no way was he a stupid man.
“This town has a way of ruining good people. You should’ve left when you had the chance.”
“C’mon, Dad, you know why I stayed.”
“Yeah, Cal. I know you’re as foolish as your old man when it comes to matters of the heart.” His gaze was distant as a ghost of a smile appeared.
My parents, high school sweethearts, had sacrificed a lot for Charlie and me. A debt I could never repay and a love I hoped I was worthy of one day.
