Chapter Nineteen #2
Then he kissed me, one of those familiar kisses that couples share after years together, when they know there will be more. A “goodbye for now, see you soon” kind of kiss.
“Love you too,” I said, then adjusted my hat and stepped out of the truck, hitching my canvas sack on my shoulder since I always carried snacks around. The kid might be hungry.
Taking my time as I picked my way along the weedy path, cockleburs sticking to my canvas shoes, I made plenty of noise to keep from spooking the child. Underfed arms and legs spiked out of a shorts set already a size too small.
Heavens to Betsy, she was a mess, with tangled red hair in need of shampoo and a good brushing.
My hands itched to give her Pippi Longstocking braids to go with those freckles.
And not because she reminded me in any way of how I’d envisioned my own daughter.
I’d certainly never imagined my child would be sitting on a dock throwing rocks at passing boats and metal signs.
No Trespassing.
Private Property.
No River Access.
Ping. Ping. Ping. Defying authority with rocks. She had good aim.
And why wouldn’t she? Her mother didn’t seem to be a trustworthy authority figure as far as I could tell.
“Hey there,” I called down the length of the dock.
The girl bolted to her feet, even shorter than I’d expected. She couldn’t have been more than six years old, if that. Still, she wore decades of jaded attitude layered over hungry wariness. “I ain’t doing nothing. Just waitin’ on my mama.”
“I know. My husband and I own the gas station. I’m just checking on you. I thought you might like a pack of peanut butter crackers and a bottle of water.”
I kept those on hand for when Russell grew overtired. Once upon a time, I would have packed them in case I needed to run. I didn’t worry about that so much anymore. Peace had found me before Phillip could.
The girl stared at the pack of crackers like it was a whole bag of Halloween candy but picked at a scab on her knee instead. “If you try to take me, I’m gonna yell fire.”
“Why not shout stranger danger?”
“People don’t always care when you say that.”
I gave her a simple nod, my throat a little tight.
“Staying safe is important. If you squint you can see the back of your mom’s head from here, so I’m sure she would hear you if you yelled.
” I lied about that last part, but it didn’t feel right to speak disrespectfully about her mother—her very neglectful mother.
I shouldn’t judge. The woman might have been doing her best, and since we were working to keep her around, I would have the opportunity to learn more about this Yvonne, as Russell had called her. “What’s your name?”
“Bailey Rae. Mama said Baileys is her favorite thing to drink, and Rae was her daddy’s name.” She scratched the scab until a trickle of blood leaked.
The way she kept scraping at the wound reminded me of a nineteen-year-old who’d once told me cutting brought her relief from stress.
“Okay, well, I think your mom might be staying here for a while.” I opened the packet of crackers and passed one over. Then took one for myself too, trying again to set her at ease. “Your car’s gonna take a while to fix, and since your mom’s already looking for a job, maybe she’ll take one here.”
Grunting, Bailey Rae ignored the cracker and me. She pinged a stone off a tire swing dangling from a branch over the still water.
I finished off my cracker before saying, “Bent Oak is a great place to live.”
Bailey Rae shot a skeptical look my way before tossing another rock toward the swing, sending it sailing through the opening this time to plop in the river.
But I wasn’t that easily dissuaded. “Don’t let that ‘No Trespassing’ sign worry you. Since the gas station belongs to my husband and me, we let youth groups from Scouts and church go swimming and fishing.”
“I can’t swim, and I don’t know how to fish.” The girl hurled another rock with unerring aim at a slow-moving johnboat.
Time to try a different approach before some fisherman pulled a firearm out of his tackle box. “I bet you can’t hit that cypress knee over there.”
Her little jaw thrust out, and she nailed that jutting root dead-on.
“Nice.” I applauded, while dusting crumbs from my hands. “I bet you’d be killer with a slingshot.”
“Why do you care?” Bailey Rae turned the full power of her flinty green eyes on me. “My mom’s not gonna stay here. She never does. You’re gonna wake up one day and we’ll be gone, with all your crackers and the money outta your wallet.”
As if to emphasize her point, she snatched up the remaining crackers and stuffed them into her mouth one after another. Her cheeks puffed wide as she chewed.
I made a mental note to hide my purse and lock the cash drawer. “Well, if you’ll be leaving, can I have one of those rocks to remember you by? I keep a jar in the window of my kitchen. It’s full of stones from special times in my life that I want to remember.”
She gulped down the food and swiped the crumbs from her mouth with the back of her wrist. “Why would you want to remember me?”
It was all I could manage not to hug her. But she still radiated so much defensiveness, I figured affection would make her run rather than risk letting the kindness bring tears. Anger was easier than vulnerability.
So I settled for a safer way of reaching out. “Because you have the best aim I’ve ever seen. With that great arm of yours, I bet you’d be a whiz at casting a line.”
She sat up straighter. “What’s casting a line mean?”
I’d piqued her interest. I held back a smile.
“It’s throwing the fishing line in as far as you can.
Since it’s gonna be a bit before the car is ready”—and while Thea figured out a job for the woman—“how about I show you our collection of cane fishing poles? If you like it, we’ll drop a line in and catch some supper.
Lucky for you, kids under sixteen don’t need a fishing license. ”
It about broke my heart when her eyes narrowed for a moment. The hardened gesture spoke volumes about the kind of life she’d led so far. But it made the reward of her nod all the sweeter when it came.
“All right, then,” she agreed, tilting her chin at me. “I’ll try.”
2025
Martin tossed his citation booklet on his kitchen counter, worn out in a way that had nothing to do with work.
He’d been agitated since his lunch with Bailey Rae the day before.
He’d had such high hopes for persuading her to stay in Bent Oak at least a while longer, just to see where the connection between them might lead.
But she’d cut him off at the knees. Sure, she’d mentioned going out for a meal with him if he was in the area, but he couldn’t miss her determination to leave.
The rejection stung more than he would have expected.
His restless feet carried him around his efficiency apartment over the hardware store on Main Street.
Not optimal for the long term, but the simple digs suited him for now.
He spent most of his time in the office or out in the field anyway, so he didn’t care much about where he rested his head at night.
Except today, the walls echoed with silence that felt suffocating.
He pulled up a playlist on his phone and dropped onto the sofa while Chris Stapleton’s mellow voice soothed his soul.
Maybe news at work this morning had triggered a callback to the shooting in the hangar.
Evidence continued to stack up against Ian Abernathy and how unhinged he’d become since learning Gia and his brother Owen were having an affair.
A second autopsy had been ordered to confirm the drowning may not have been accidental.
What a mess.
A knock thumped on the door—odd, because he never had visitors. He turned off the music and checked the peephole to find Keith and June standing in the corridor. Had something happened with Libby?
He unbolted the lock and swung the door wide. “Good afternoon, what brings you this way?”
Keith stepped aside to let June enter first, then followed. “Hope you don’t mind us stopping by unannounced. Bailey Rae asked us to drop off some things you might like to have. Canned goods and a quilt with a wildlife theme.”
Any other time, he would have been touched by the gesture. But right now, it felt like a slap in the face that she hadn’t wanted to deliver the items personally. “That’s thoughtful of her—and of you two to bring it over.”
June placed a small basket full of jars onto his kitchen table, by his work cap. “We’re trying to help her as much as she’ll let us. She was clearing out the last things in the cabin and wanted to say thanks for everything you’ve done for us—for Gia and Cricket too.”
Martin closed the door. “I would have come by.”
June abandoned her unloading to face him while Keith draped the quilt over the arm of the sofa. “She’s in ‘flight mode,’ hiding from emotions—just like when she was a kid. Don’t take it personally, Martin.”
Her insight fit well with his own perception of Bailey Rae, even if he didn’t much care for the way she’d shut him out.
“Is that why she’s leaving town?” And talking of low-key lunches when he’d just asked her to stay?
Sighing, June said, “She has it in her head that moving to Myrtle Beach is the best way to honor Winnie’s memory. Bailey Rae just can’t seem to grasp that Winnie would want her to live her best life. Wherever that may be.”
After all she’d shared about her childhood, he could see why she might want to make a fresh start.
As he had by coming to Bent Oak. Who was he to deny her a new beginning?
“I’ll be sure to thank her when I see her at the July Fourth market tomorrow.
Well, as long as I don’t get called into work.
” Martin scratched the back of his neck.
“There’ve been some teens, um, up to no good out in the woods lately. ”
Keith dropped to sit on the sofa, making himself at home. “June and I weren’t the best of teenagers, but we had good people on our side.” He elbowed June lightly. “Remember when Russell taught us to drive? I thought for sure he was gonna have a heart attack.”
Martin motioned for June to have a seat before pulling up a kitchen chair for himself. “I didn’t realize the two of you grew up together in Bent Oak.”
June tucked her colorfully streaked hair behind her ear. “I, uh, emancipated at sixteen. Russell and Winnie let me stay with them until I turned eighteen.”
Martin reconfigured the histories of Winnie and her friends as he learned those details, trying to make all the pieces fit. At times, though, he felt like those histories kept changing.
Keith clasped his hands between his knees.
“My mom and I moved here when I was six, the same day Winnie arrived as well. We showed up at the same time because of a big hiring fair at the mill. I spent evenings at Winnie’s and Russell’s whenever Mom had a late shift.
I was there so much I even carved my initials into a windowsill at the cabin. ”
There was definitely a family vibe among the people Winnie had made her friends.
He could see that all the more clearly now.
The details didn’t matter as much as the connection.
And none of the people she’d pulled into her orbit had actually been related to her—a testament to the way people could build strong relationships with the friends they chose.
Bailey Rae had been lucky to land in such a supportive community. He had too, for that matter. Of course he wouldn’t have gotten to know these people without Bailey Rae as a bridge of sorts. He would miss her when she left, but he also realized he would no longer isolate himself.
Time for him to reenter the world ... he had Bailey Rae to thank for that. Something he intended to tell her when they said goodbye.