46. Theo
THEO
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Kerry Winsor: @SherriffMike Finch I’m now looping you in. Please tell me you’ve seen Theo or Piper.
Comments:
SherriffMike Finch: You all do know Facebook isn’t the place for this, right?
Kerry Winsor: Okay, should we come to your office then?
SherriffMike Finch: On second thought, no. I haven’t heard anything, but if you really haven’t seen them, we can try a missing person’s report. But you all need to be prepared for the fact that they don’t want to be found.
Kerry Winsor: But we have questions! And thoughts!
SherriffMike Finch: Have you ever known Theo to be an open book? I doubt we’ll ever know everything, Kerry. We might have to leave this one a mystery . . .
Two figures were in front of my house, and I wondered if they were the start of the angry mob that would push me out.
Piper was behind me in her own car, and I had to fight against the urge to run again. My grip tightened on the steering wheel and I wondered if I could even do this.
Then I got closer.
It was Marjorie and Henrietta. Henrietta was pacing around, looking more stressed than I’d ever seen her.
And Marjorie . . .
Marjorie was on the steps, hunched over.
Crying.
She stood when my car pulled up, and I no longer wanted to run.
“Marj?” I asked, killing the engine and nearly falling to get out of the car. “What happened? Are you okay? Why are you—”
I didn’t think anyone could hug me tighter than Piper had, but Marjorie gave it her best effort.
“Kid!” Her voice cracked. “Jesus fuck, you scared me.”
Henrietta was right behind her. “Theo, we saw the post.”
“Then . . . why are you hugging me?”
“Where is that fucker?” Marjorie asked as she pulled away. “I’ll kick his ass for that. I’ll hurl him into next week!”
“I—what?”
A hand slipped into mine. I turned to see Piper had gotten out of the car. “I think they’re mad for you, love. Just like me.”
“That’s right. No one does that to my kid without an ass beating!”
“But you’re okay?” Henrietta asked. “You closed the coffee shop, honey. No one knew where you were. We were worried.”
“You shouldn’t have been.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Marjorie pointed a stern finger at me.
I took in a moment of their kindness. I loved this.
But they needed to know.
“You shouldn’t be . . .” My throat tried to close up, but I pushed past it. “What was written is true.”
Piper’s hand tightened, and all I could do was look at them. I braced myself for the confusion. For the disgust.
Their eyes widened and I looked at my feet.
“It was . . . a bad time in my life. I was born into it, and I left as soon as I could, planning to run so no one would know. But I liked it here, so I stayed. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, and I hope that .
. . I hope that I can prove that I’m not that person anymore.
I understand if it takes time, though. You can ignore me for a while—”
A hand collided with my chest.
“Ow,” I hissed.
“Marjorie!” Henrietta scolded. “That is not what we do here.” She turned to me. “I’m sorry about her.”
“I would never ignore you!” Marjorie snapped. “God, you think I give a shit about where you came from? I care about you, kid. Bad past or not.”
“Y-you do?”
“I do as well,” Henrietta said softly. “A lot, if you can’t tell.”
“You—neither of you care? That post said I was a drug dealer.”
Marjorie’s eyes met mine. “Yes.”
“And that because of me someone who’s still connected to it came here.”
“You should’ve told me.” Marjorie crossed her arms. “I have a mean right hook.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Theo,” Piper said softly. “They see what I do.”
“I thought . . . Don’t you want me to leave?”
“No.” Marjorie shook her head and grabbed my shoulders. “Please don’t go, Theo.”
Piper had said the same thing. I thought she would be the only one.
I was wrong.
“I don’t . . . I don’t deserve this.”
“You do,” Piper said.
“You have a place here,” Marjorie added. “And no one is ruining that.”
I looked out at the road, toward the square, before slowly nodding.
It felt like all of the air had been knocked out of my lungs. This was beyond my wildest imagination.
“We can cover for you,” Henrietta said. “A lot of people seem to think this is out of nowhere, and it is. They don’t have to know that it’s true.”
“Yeah. We’ll keep it quiet. I have lots of secrets.”
I looked over at Piper.
Her eyes were shiny, but she gave me a smile. I thought about all the things that had happened and how it came from keeping secrets.
I couldn’t continue that trend.
“No. I’m telling them.”
“O-oh.” Marjorie sounded like the wind had been knocked out of her. “Kid, they’ll be in your business.”
“I know.”
“That means questions. That means opening up, which you don’t like doing.”
“I don’t. It scares me.” I looked over at Piper and smiled. “But someone taught me that things can be done even while scared. And that’s what I’m gonna do.”
Her head fell to the side. “It’s the right thing.”
“Has anyone ever called a town meeting?” I asked.
“Before the old town hall shut down, yes. But since the new one opened, we haven’t had any meetings. It is a nice day, though. We could probably meet somewhere outside.” Marjorie considered it. “I could put a post up.”
“Do it. I think I need to talk to everyone.” I took a shaky breath. “It’s time they got to know me. All of me.”
Marjorie didn’t call in many favors, so when she asked everyone to gather on the square, they did. I was both happy and terrified as I gazed out on all the faces I’d come to know over the years.
“Breathe,” Piper said. “And you know what you’re gonna say, so just stick to the script.”
“I know.”
“You’re handling it better than I would.”
“I’m panicking inside.” And I was. It felt like every cell in my body burned. I was functioning on autopilot at best. I had no idea how Piper dealt with this kind of anxiety for years.
“Once it’s done, you’ll feel better.”
“What if I don’t?”
“All of this is temporary,” she said.
“I’m trying to make things permanent this time.”
“I mean all these emotions are. It might feel like this will never end, but it will. Life goes on.”
I didn’t know if I believed her, but I nodded anyway. “Stay with me?”
She smiled. “Always.”
“What’s happening?” Tammy called from the crowd. “I can’t stay away from the diner forever!”
“You’ve got this,” Piper reminded softly.
I never felt like I had anything, but today showed me that I did.
Slowly, I stepped up onto one of the benches and faced everyone. Kelsey pushed her way to the front of the crowd, a frown on her face.
She’d said she’d supported me in text, but her expression now said otherwise. She was one of the few people I was close to. Her taking her support back would hurt the most.
I continued anyway.
“Uh, hi. I’m sure you all saw the post.”
A rumble made its way through the crowd.
“I just can’t believe someone would say something like that about you!” Jackie said from the back. “What awful lies!”
Oh, boy. I never thought I would be doing this even with Marjorie and Henrietta, but to now do it again with the entire town?
This was miserable.
“I’m sorry, but all of that is true.”
The crowd exploded.
“What?” Dale asked. “You’re a drug dealer?”
“Are you dealing here?” Tammy asked. “We don’t do that shit here!”
“You of all people?” Kerry yelled as well.
“Hang on!” Marjorie snapped at all of them. “He’s said one fucking sentence!”
“Did you know?” Tammy rounded on her. “Did you hide it from us?”
“No! But I would’ve if he wasn’t being brave up there.”
One voice broke through the crowd. “Stop!” It was Kelsey. She was red in the face, and glaring, but it seemed to work. “There’s no way he is. How about we listen?”
“You need to hear the rest of his story,” Piper said. Her voice was firm and left no room for argument. Hearing her gave me just enough strength to speak.
“I was a part of that family.” I said it slowly.
“I was born into it, and all of that shit was so normalized to me that I thought it was just a job when I was a kid. And then I grew up. I saw the kind of people who were buying. I saw the way my parents didn’t care if they were ruining lives.
They only wanted money. So, I left when I was eighteen. I haven’t been back since.”
The crowd was silent, so I kept going.
“It was never my plan to stay here. I figured I’d need to move around to run from the mistakes of my past. But I .
. . I liked it here. I liked helping you all, and I still do.
I know that this might change how you see me, and I know you might not want me around, but I ask that you give me a chance to prove that I’m not my past. It might take time, and that’s fine. I just wanted you all to know.”
I stepped down, planning to go home and hide for a bit. Tomorrow, I’d open the shop, even if no one came in.
“Now, hang on a second.” It was Marjorie’s turn. Henrietta helped her up, and she stood tall across the crowd. “He’s being too humble.”
“You’re biased!” Tammy called. “You’ve always liked him!”
“Like you don’t? Did he not wake up in the middle of the night to come fix your grill? And didn’t even charge extra for it?”
Tammy opened her mouth, then shut it.
“He fixed my plumbing problem,” Mark added. “And that was a mess.”
“It was,” I said, shuddering at the memory. “That might be the worst thing I’ve ever done.”
He laughed. “But you did it. You were miserable, but you showed up anyway.”
“He was the first person in town to show me how kind you all are,” Piper added. “Half of the reason I’m here is because of him.”
“I have something to say!” Kerry stepped up, and I tensed. I was surprised it even took her this long to speak.
“Don’t you even try it, Kerry,” Marjorie snapped.
“Give me a chance.” She rolled her eyes. “I was just gonna say that as the town’s gossip, and main problem—”
“She admits it,” Tammy muttered.
“I’m aware of who I am.” Kerry sighed. “And I’ve messed up .
. . a lot. I’ve jumped to judgment way too quickly.
We didn’t do that this time, and most of us waited.
In turn, he’s trusted us with his story.
I think that’s an honor for us to know, and it means he’s finally a part of this town, mistakes and all. So, we should celebrate. Not judge.”
My jaw dropped.
I was pretty sure every other jaw did too.
“She’s right.” Cain crossed his arms. “As much as I hate to admit it. I once beat the shit out of my stepfather. I’ve made mistakes.”
“You’ve all seen my ass!” Hugh called. “Many times!”
“Can we have one day where we’re not reminded of that?” Tammy nearly gagged. “Jesus, you old fart. I just wanna know peace!”
“And you did it on purpose!” Mark said with a roll of his eyes.
“That brings the other question,” Dale said. “Is there a risk of someone from your past finding you?”
I sighed. “Someone already has.”
The crowd all spoke at the same time. I winced, unable to pick out a single word as they panicked.
“Before you all get your panties in a twist,” Sheriff Mike said, “I knew about this. I’ve been watching, and there’s no activity. But if we’re all worried about safety, Theo could tell me what he knows. I reached out to some people in Knoxville. They would love any info you have.”
“It’s old. But I’ll talk.”
Mike nodded. “So, he’s committed. And willing to bring his family down.”
“Why now?” Tammy asked.
“I . . . Someone close to me made me want to be better. Running is selfish. Facing it isn’t.”
Silence stretched out across the townsfolk.
It was broken by Tammy.
“All right, fair enough. That’s enough for me.”
“Really?”
“Me too.” Dale shrugged. “So, can we all go back to our jobs now?”
I blinked. “You’re all just fine with it? Even after being upset?”
“‘Fine’ isn’t the word. It’s a shock, but you’re one of us, so we’ll deal.” Tammy shrugged too.
Kerry turned to me. “We can’t promise we won’t mess up, but we can promise we’ll grow.”
“Damn, she’s emotionally mature.” Tammy laughed. “Who knew?”
“You’re a good kid too,” Dale added. “You don’t go to Walmart.”
“And you told us.” Mark smiled. “That was brave. Good on you.”
The crowd slowly dissipated, completely unaware of the way my world was tilted.
“Did that really just happen?” I asked Piper.
“I think it did.” She slowly turned to me. “There were a lot of towns you could’ve ended up in. Maybe this was just the right one.”
I turned to see one last person waiting for me with her arms crossed.
“Kelsey,” I said, taking in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” she asked slowly.
“Not telling you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I knew something was up. That’s not what I’m mad at.”
“What are you mad about then?”
“You closed the shop.”
“I did.”
“You disappeared.” Her lip wobbled. “Without even a goodbye? Come on, man. I know I’m not Piper, but you were really just gonna leave like that?”
“I always thought it would be for the best.” I looked at the ground. Suddenly, her frown earlier made sense. “I know I was wrong.”
Kelsey sniffed and turned to Piper. “You talked some sense into him?”
“I did,” Piper replied.
“Good.” She pointed a threatening finger in my direction. “Don’t do it again.”
I put up my hands. “I won’t. I want things to work here, even if people are mad at me. The shop might be slow for a bit.”
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Still so stupid. I’ll see you at work soon.”
“Wait, how am I stupid? What are you talking about?”
“You’ll see. I’m gonna go eat ice cream because of you. This is all your fault.”