14. Theo
THEO
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Dale Garrett: Add me to the list, boys! I finally ran into that girl you were talking about. Seems nice. Kelsey barked at me to leave her alone, though.
Comments:
Kelsey Marie: Woof woof.
Kerry Winsor: This is SO unfair!!! How has Dale met her but not me!
Tammy Jane: You want some cheese with that whine, Kerry?
Piper M: You all remember I’m in the group, right?
Kerry Winsor: So then where are you? What do you do?? LET ME MEET YOU!!!
“I saw your girl yesterday,” Kelsey said as she leaned on the counter. “I’m definitely trying to steal her from you.”
“You saw Piper?” I asked. I didn’t realize what I’d said until she smirked at me. “Shut up.”
“You’re so obvious.”
“Just because you called her that doesn’t mean I think it’s true.”
“Sure. Tell yourself that.”
“Anyway,” I said, refusing to talk about this more, “you can go home early.”
She laughed. “Expecting her to come in?”
“She might. And you’re near forty hours.”
“And how many are you at?”
I had no idea how many hours I worked. All I knew was that I was here as much as I could be. “Don’t you wanna leave early? You’re watching some TV show, right?”
“I’m actually reading.”
“Still. I’m letting you off the hook from working.”
“Have you ever given yourself a night off from it?” My only answer was a glare. Kelsey rolled her eyes. “I’ll break you eventually. Or get Piper to do it.”
“And yet you leave every time.”
“I’m only going because I have ice cream I’m craving. This will definitely come back up.”
“Why?”
“Because no one in this town wants to see you kill yourself working.” At my silence, she paused. “Is that hard to believe or something?”
“N-no.” Sometimes it was. “It’s just that I like being here.”
“And so do I,” she said while she clocked out. “Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal. Maybe when you ask Piper out, I can take over a little more.”
“Yeah maybe.” Then I realized what she’d said. “Hey, I’m not asking—”
“Bye!” Kelsey was already running out the door.
She’d gotten me, and she would never let me forget it.
I let out a breath when I was alone, hoping Piper really did come in.
Someone did walk in right at her usual time, but it wasn’t her.
Instead, it was someone much worse.
Time slowed as I watched my worst nightmare walk through the door.
It had been eighteen years since I’d associated with my family. I’d left them the moment I was legally able to and never looked back. So far, I’d not run into anyone from my old life.
But that streak ended today.
Arlo was my family’s pride and joy. While he wasn’t related to us, he may as well have been with how much he was around. His lack of morals meant he would do anything my parents asked. He was everything I wasn’t.
And with the way Arlo’s eyes landed on me, I knew why he was here.
He’d found me. Just like I hoped he never would.
“Theodore Murphy.”
My full name hadn’t been uttered in so long, and I was grateful Kelsey wasn’t here to see this.
“It’s Theo now,” I said. My fists closed behind the counter. “Theo Murf.”
“Yeah, right. You’ll always be Theodore Murphy to me.” He laughed and his eyes raked over everything I’d worked so hard to build. “So, this is what you’ve been doing since you bailed? Working in a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere?”
“How did you find me?”
“This little place is pretty popular. Some blogger came in and got a photo. You were in it.”
Fuck. I was still not used to Strawberry Springs being of interest to anyone, so I hadn’t noticed someone coming in to take photos. If I had, I’d have made sure Kelsey was the one visible.
That itch hit me again, the one I’d almost given in to many times. I was never supposed to stay in Strawberry Springs for long, and I wanted to run.
“What? No love for your almost brother?” He laughed. “You act like I’m a criminal.”
“You are a criminal. All of you are.”
Arlo’s smile faded. “So I see that you still think you’re better than us. All that judgment, and you’re serving people coffee in the middle of nowhere.”
“I want nothing to do with any of this. Get out.”
“I can’t get any coffee? What would your boss say?”
“I am my own boss. This is my shop.”
Arlo looked shocked for all of one second before he grinned again. “Using those business skills your parents gave you, I see. You do remember us.”
“Fuck off,” I growled. “I use nothing they gave me.”
“You’re still their son. Nothing will ever change that.”
My palm slammed on the counter and I abandoned my post to get in his face.
“I told you to leave.”
“I’m starting to think I want you to make me.”
My fists clenched again. If I made him, then people would see. If people saw, then they would have questions.
But Arlo knew how to push my buttons like no one else did, and I needed him gone.
I was sure that things couldn’t get any worse. But before I could do anything else, the door opened behind him and I caught a glimpse of blonde hair.
No. Not now.
Just moments ago, I’d been excited to see her. I’d wanted to hear about how her grocery trip went, but now, I wish she’d stayed home.
Arlo looked over too, and when he saw Piper, his eyes stuck to hers. I thought he’d realized she was a friend of mine and he was going to use that against me.
“Piper MacMillian, is that you?”
I froze. He knew her? By name?
She stopped the moment he said her name. Her eyes dragged over him and they went wide. Her entire body froze.
She knew him. And she didn’t like him.
The feeling was mutual.
“A-Arlo.” Her voice shook. “How the—what are you doing here?”
“Visiting an old friend.” His eyes cut to me and her gaze followed.
Piper’s entire expression shifted. Her lips moved downward and her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t just afraid. She was angry.
The ice in her stare pierced me to my core.
“Hey, how old are you now?” Arlo asked her.
Piper shook her head and took a step away. “That’s not any of your business.”
“You have to be legal now, right? You still look as hot as ever.” He reached out, and I knew there was no way I was letting him touch her.
Too many things happened at once. Piper shrank in on herself and Arlo almost made contact. The thin thread holding my sanity together snapped.
I grabbed his wrist before he could touch her.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” The words came out low and gravelly. This was a voice I hadn’t used in years.
It wasn’t just out of character for me, it was a part of me I’d erased. But I knew what he was like behind closed doors. I knew what all of them were like, and this was the only language they understood.
I felt slimy. I felt angry. I felt like that kid that ran away.
None of this I’d ever wanted to feel in Strawberry Springs.
“She’s yours, huh? At least you still have a little fire in you.”
I stepped even closer to him. “I’m calling the sheriff over.”
That finally made Arlo pause. “You wouldn’t.”
“I have a lot I could tell him about.”
He yanked his arm out of my grip. “Narc,” he spat before he hurried out the door.
Piper and I watched him until he was gone. I let out a sigh of relief the moment he disappeared from my view. But then Piper turned to me, her brow creased and another frown on her face. I saw the expression I feared.
Disgust.
Fear.
“You . . . know him,” she whispered, backing away from me like she had with Arlo.
“I—”
“No, don’t. Just when I thought I . . .” She trailed off and shook her head. “Stay away from me.”
And then she was gone. The door swung shut, both in the shop and on anything we could have been.
An inexplicable feeling of disappointment hit me.
I’d imagined the town finding out who I was a million times over. But I hadn’t known Piper long enough for the nightmare to extend to her.
Reality was so much worse than what my mind could conjure.
“Fuck,” I said. Leave it to a man like Arlo to find my shop and ruin things with Piper.
Panic gripped my chest as I realized this was the one thing I couldn’t let happen. I’d built a life here, and while I knew the peace was fragile, I did everything I could to make sure it would never end.
I also didn’t want Arlo and my family to set their sights on me, or Strawberry Springs.
My breaths came out in heaves as I closed the shop early. I knew I had to make true to my statement to keep Arlo away.
Sheriff Mike wasn’t a bad guy. I knew the entire town respected him and he did keep a watchful eye on what happened here. But I was taught from a young age to never trust anyone who could arrest me, so I kept my distance from him, even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
The sheriff’s station was newly opened in the town hall. Wren had been working on parts of it, eager to give the town a place to gather.
I had planned to avoid it.
Mike blinked when I walked in. “Oh, Theo. How can I help you?”
My heart pounded as I tried to pull words together. This went against everything I’d ever planned to do, but I couldn’t keep silent. The town didn’t need Arlo here. “Something happened and I . . . need to talk to you.”
He raised an eyebrow, but gestured for me to sit. My leg started bouncing the second I did.
“There was a man in my shop today. Someone who deals . . . illegal things.”
“And you know this how?”
“I used to know him through my family. I don’t anymore, though.”
Mike eyed me and slowly brought out his pen and a piece of paper. “What did he want?”
“To bother me.”
“What did he do?”
“I don’t care about what he did to me, he—”
Mike held up his hand, and I went silent immediately. “I care what he did to you, kid. We’ll start there.”
“He just was there to piss me off. I left everything behind years before I came here. I don’t speak to them.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“He just wanted me to throw the first punch.”
He hummed. “And did you?”
“No. I just wanted him gone. The threat of calling you was enough.”
“Good to know I’m scary.” He laughed. “What does he look like? I can make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”
“I don’t care about that. He also recognized someone else. Do you know a woman named Piper?”
“I know of her, but I’ve never met her.”
“I told him to leave, but he hinted he wanted to go out with her. She was very uninterested, but he doesn’t take ‘no’ very well.”
“And this woman lives above the coffee shop, yes?”
“She does.”
“All right, well, how about I patrol the area a little heavier. Maybe park in the front with a view of the alley.”
“It would be better to park in the back.”
“Well, how am I supposed to keep an eye on the two of you?”
“I-I’m fine, I—”
“You’re definitely not fine, and I can make sure he doesn’t bother you or her.”
“You don’t have to protect me. I’m the one who knows them. I should handle that myself.”
Mike narrowed his eyes. “That’s not what we do, and you know it.”
“But you barely know me.”
“You’ve been here a decade, and most of that time you were helping everyone out and asking for way too little money to do it.”
“I didn’t want them to pay too much, but they did anyway.”
Mike laughed as if I’d proven a point. “Yeah, yeah. You’re a saint.”
“I’m definitely not.”
“How about we agree to disagree and you tell me what this little troublemaker looks like. Then I’ll come in for a cup of coffee and we’ll call it even.”
I blinked at him. I’d expected more questions. I’d expected him to dig into my past and find every detail.
But I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I knew Mike was a good guy and I’d gotten lucky.
There was no guarantee I’d stay lucky, however.
“I’ll tell you everything.”
He uncapped his pen. “Good. Now, does he have any identifying marks?”