12. Maisie
Chapter 12
Maisie
M y camper doesn’t look any better in the light of day than it did the last time I was here from where I can see it in the mechanic’s bay.
It’s still dented and broken.
Kinda like me. Though I’ve worked hard to change that.
I pull Audra out of her car seat and get her nestled to my chest — facing the world so she doesn’t fuss — in her sling while she babbles away before I head into the shop.
The inside of the lobby smells like an automotive shop — rubber and oil. The front desk has a diamond plating to the bottom and the top is a cheery red against the beige walls. The space is cleaner than I would have attributed to a small-town mechanic shop, but there’s no one behind the front desk. I lightly press a finger to the old fashion bell sitting on the top of the counter.
The chime in the otherwise silent room is loud and Audra kicks her legs outward.
The sound of clattering metal hitting concrete and the mumbled curse carry through the open door between the shop and the office.
Footsteps sound on the pavement and I hear Jedd before I see him.
“Hey, there, Maisie. Good morning. How’s it going?” He looks more awake than I would expect from someone who spent the previous night playing poker with his brothers. His expression is open and welcoming, and I smile at him.
“Morning. Harlan said that I could get some more of our stuff out of my camper.”
He nods and scratches a hand through his scruff. “He texted us this morning. Come on out and we’ll get you packed up.”
Jedd pulls his phone out of his pocket and fires off a text message as he leads me through the engine bay to my camper.
Once I step through the door, I gape.
The previous destruction of my belongings is gone. The inside of the camper is still as wrecked as it was the last time I saw it, but none of the broken dishes remain. Even the things that fell off the counters in the kitchen space are stacked neatly on the dining table. My bedding is all folded and placed on the foot of the bed. What dishes could be saved are set on the counters in tidy rows.
“Me and Rhett came in early this morning and tried to clean up what we could after Har texted. Didn’t want you to have to deal with it when you were packing up.”
I turn to the gruff voice of Harlan’s brother. The inexplicable urge to cry at the continued kindness of the Calhoun family hits me out of nowhere. They didn’t have to come in and clean my camper. But they did anyway — because it would make it easier for me. I tramp down my first instinct — suspicion at the gesture — and just focus on the gratefulness I feel .
“You guys didn’t have to do that,” I murmur, and then remembering my manners, I say, “Thank you.”
Jedd shrugs. “It didn’t take long, but you’re welcome. Rhett will be back soon to help, Finch too, but they went to grab some coffee and pastries from Jem’s shop. I have to finish up this oil change, and then we’ll help you get loaded. Rhett and Duke are bringing their trucks. Between those and Har’s SUV, we should be able to get you moved into the apartment no problem. You need anything, just holler.”
He raps his knuckles twice on the door jam and the door closes behind him when he steps out.
“Well girly. Let’s get packed up.”
I sort and organize my belongings into packable items. Anything that needs trashing is set off to the side to toss out later. A quick trip to the back of Harlan’s SUV gets me the few boxes that I need for my meager belongings.
“Hey, there, pretty girls.” The sound of another voice behind me in the now open door of my camper makes me jump.
Rhett — I recognize him from the hospital — is standing next to another man, and I assume he’s Finch.
Confirming my suspicions, he says, “This is Finch, my older brother.” Rhett whips his hand to his forehead in a snappy salute. “Reporting for duty and at your service.”
Finch rolls his eyes at his brother. “As he said, I’m Finch. Nice to meetcha.” He’s holding a drink carrier and plucks one of the drinks from the cardboard before holding it out to me.
“Um. Thank you, but I don’t like coffee. Sorry.” The apology slips out, second nature at this point.
“It’s hot chocolate. Har said you’re watching your caffeine while you nurse and that you don’t like coffee or tea, so I hope this is okay.”
“Oh. Um. Yeah. That’s fine. Thank you again.” I take the cup from him, and the heat against my slightly chilled fingers is nice. The creamy warm chocolate is even better when I take a sip.
“You’re welcome.” The brothers skirt around the two boxes and single trash bag I have packed and stacked on the floor near the door.
“Am I late?” Another voice calls from outside the camper, and glancing past Finch and Rhett, I see another man standing in the engine bay.
“That’s Duke. Finch’s twin,” Rhett says before turning around. “You’re always late, but don’t come in here, there’s not enough room for us and you.”
Duke’s head pops through the open doorway. “Nice to meet you, Maisie. Har said you might need some help getting your belongings over to his place.”
“Harlan texted all of you?” The question squeaks out of me. Jedd said Harlan texted “us,” and I thought that meant one or two of them, I didn’t think he was sending his whole family to help.
All three of them look similar enough that it’s easy to see they’re related, but their features differ slightly from each other.
“It’s no big thing, Maisie, we have a family group chat. Harlan said you might need help and most of us have the time,” Finch says quietly.
“Yeah. Most of us are off work today, Jedd’s the only one here that’s technically working, though the shop is closed. Not like we had a whole bunch of things to get done on a Sunday morning. Boone and Jem are meeting with their contractor — they’re building a house right now, otherwise, they’d likely be here too.”
I take a deep breath against the weird pressure in my chest. I can’t remember the last time I had help for something as mundane as packing my belongings — let alone any of the bigger things life has thrown my way.
Warmth spreads through me. I thought that Harlan would see me as nothing but a messy burden after everything that I told him last night, but then this morning happened, and I guess that really isn’t the case.
“Okay. Well, I’m all done. I just need to run that bag out to the trash and we can go.”
“This is it?” Rhett asks incredulously, eyeing the two big boxes of my belongings.
“Yeah. There’s not a lot of space in here, and I don’t need much. Most of it’s Audra’s.” I ramble out the explanation.
The brothers share a loaded look, and to keep my hands busy, I place one hand against the sling where it covers Audra’s tummy and run my other through the short crop of hair on her head before breathing in her comforting scent.
“Okay. We’ll get it loaded into the back of Har’s SUV and then follow you over to your place to get it unloaded.” Duke grabs the trash bag as Finch and Rhett grab a box each and I’m left alone in the small space of my camper. Empty, it looks old and worn, but it’s more than that to me.
Sure it’s an older model, and I didn’t have a lot of things to make it homier, but it’s my — our — home. It’s the one place that made me feel safe again. It’s gotten me through sleepless nights with a newborn. It’s been my safe space as I build a business that I’m proud of. We’ve seen so much of the country from this camper, and while it wasn’t easy, the safety it provided has always been priceless to me.
It’s not much, but it’s mine.
I step down and pull the door shut behind me, not bothering to lock it since it’s clearly not going anywhere .
“You all set?” Jedd asks while peeling gloves off his hands.
“Yeah.”
Just as I speak, Rhett, Finch, and Duke come back through the engine bay.
“Oh look, it’s the lazy asshole,” Rhett goads.
“Yeah, must be nice having everyone else do the heavy lifting while you sit on your behind,” Duke chimes in.
“Living the lap of luxury, hiding out in the back of his shop.” Finch grins as he delivers the barb at his brother.
Instead of getting mad at his brothers, Jedd just flips them off while smiling. “Fuck off. Mrs. Gantry couldn’t get her Honda in here any other day this week, and it was overdue for the oil change. Air filter was clogged to shit too.”
“Sure it was,” the three of them chorus together.
Audra squeals and kicks her legs in her sling.
“She is the freaking cutest, man. I just can’t,” Rhett says.
“She’s definitely a looker. She gets it from her mama.” Jedd winks at me before his gaze goes behind me.
Rhett chimes in “It’s all that black hair with those eyes.” He wiggles his eyebrows in my direction.
“Both of you keep your defective eyeballs to yourself.” A voice comes from behind me.
I turn to find Harlan standing at the front of the engine bays. Our eyes meet and hold. His gaze steady and calming.
To me, he says, “Ignore those knuckleheads. Mom dropped them on their heads when they were babies.”
I snort out a chuckle.
He’s in his work uniform, and since I was busy getting me and Audra ready this morning after he left, we didn’t see him again before he went to work.
Black cargo pants, tactical belt, long sleeved cotton shirt under a short sleeve button down, he looks every inch the sheriff with the gold star pinned to his chest. A black ball cap with Everette Sheriff’s Department stitched across it sits on his head.
The uniform alone makes me want to tremble with anxiety, but I force it back down. He’s done nothing but make me comfortable since I’ve been here. But I can’t help the knee-jerk reaction at the sight of a cop.
And every inch of Harlan Calhoun screams cop.
Officers of the law are supposed to mean safety. They’re supposed to mean help is here. But that hasn’t been my experience with them.
I suck in a lungful of air before the kernel of anxiety can turn into full blown terror.
“Where is everything?” Harlan asks his brothers.
“Loaded into the back of your SUV,” Duke says.
“There are only two boxes in it,” he says to me instead of his brothers.
I fight the urge to fidget under his stare.
“Most of my dishes were broken in the accident. One box is mine and Audra’s belongings — our clothes, toiletries and stuff, the other box is the few kitchen items that you don’t have in the apartment and Audra’s toys,” I say quietly, unnerved by the way he’s staring at me.
A flash of sympathy or pity crosses his face, but it’s gone so fast, I can’t be sure it was there in the first place before it disappears.
I chew on the inside of my cheek. How sad is it that I can fit my whole life into two moving boxes? What must he think of me as a mother, that I can fit all of my daughter’s worldly possessions in half a box? How did this even become my life?
I asked myself that question over and over again as I cleaned split skin and iced bruises from Sean and limped my way through the abuse.
Shoving the self-pity down, I straighten my shoulders. So what if Audra and I travel light? She’s six months old for crying out loud. She doesn’t need that much, and neither do I.
“Well she’s loaded up, you want us to head over to your place and unload it all, or are you gonna follow her over?” Finch breaks the silent standoff between his brother and me.
Harlan eyes me for a minute before asking, “You hungry?”
My stomach rumbles loudly in the next second at the mention of food. A quick glance at my watch shows that it’s nearly lunch time.
“I could eat,” I say.
“The diner?” Jedd asks.
Harlan nods. “Yeah, we’ll meet you there.”