Chapter 1
Ten years later
Mylie really didn’t want to fire him. In fact, firing Robbie Price was literally the last thing on planet Earth she wanted
to do. She’d been avoiding it for nearly a week, until this morning, when her best friend, Jodi, reminded her that she had
to pay Robbie for every day she put it off.
Most of the time, Mylie liked being the boss, liked owning her own business. She’d worked hard for it, after all. Since she
was fourteen, she’d been working toward it, spending her free time running her Granny Violet’s bait and tackle truck at the
lake, learning how to make lures, marketing her product. Now, all these years later, she had an entire warehouse full of employees
crafting handmade tackle that went out to people all over the state of Arkansas and beyond. They’d even sent packages to Europe
and South America. She employed one third of the townspeople in the small resort town of Clay Creek, Arkansas. Despite that,
she tried to keep out of local politics and local gossip. It wasn’t easy, though, with someone always asking for a favor... which was exactly how she’d gotten herself
talked into hiring Robbie in the first place.
His granny was friends with her granny, and despite the fact that Robbie had been in prison up until six months ago, it had
somehow been Mylie’s problem that he was living with the aforementioned granny and eating up all her retirement savings. As if she’d somehow forced him to steal copper wiring from a subdivision being built outside of town and “forget” to pay child support for the last decade.
Robbie Price was two years older than Mylie, and she’d always tried to avoid him, even in elementary school. She guessed he’d
been this way for a long time, but she’d always figured, at least when they were kids, that it wasn’t his fault. Like her,
his father had taken off long before Robbie got a chance to know it. The difference was that while Mylie had her granny to
help raise and guide her, Robbie’s mother sold illegal moonshine and had a rap sheet nearly as long as her son’s. As they’d
gotten older, Mylie and Robbie took very different paths in life. His drinking was a well-known issue, and she should have
trusted her gut. Sobriety hadn’t lasted long, and drinking on the job wasn’t something Mylie could tolerate, even if a small
part of her felt bad for him.
Hook, Line, this won’t be the last time we
hear from him.”
Mylie knew he’d be bad-mouthing her all over town before the day was over, and she’d have to avoid the grocery store for a
week at least. She also knew that when Robbie said something wasn’t over, he meant it.
“Do you want to call the sheriff?” Jodi asked.
Mylie shook her head. “I’ll talk to him,” she said. “Let him know the situation.”
“You’re the boss,” Jodi replied, bending down to help Mylie pick up the lures. “Good thing these were all defective.”
Mylie plucked a lure from her hair. “At least there weren’t any hooks in them.”
“That, too,” Jodi agreed. “So, you meeting that guy from Tinder tonight? You better get on home if that’s your plan. You look
like you need to spend some time getting ready.”
“Thanks a lot,” Mylie grumbled, finishing up with the lures. “Can you close up for the weekend if I leave?”
“Just go,” Jodi said, swatting Mylie on the ass as she sidled past her. “And don’t forget to send me your location in case
he murders you and drops you into the lake!”