Beautifully Broken (Maple Grove #1)

Prologue

I’m crouching down as low as I can, pulling my knees close to my belly to stay wedged between two stalks.

We’re hiding in the cornfield like minnows under rocks, trying not to get eaten by the large-mouth bass.

Mommy says we’re on an adventure like Huck Finn, and we have to be sneaky just like him.

Something is digging into my bare foot, but I’m trying my best to stay still because Mommy says we can’t be seen and we can’t be heard.

“Just a little longer, Jamison,” she whispers.

Mommy always calls me Jamison. Not Jay like everyone else.

She says that Jamison is a strong name, and I’m a strong boy, and I shouldn’t make any part of myself smaller for someone else.

It’s the name she uses when she calls me for dinner and when she tells me I better not be acting out in school.

It’s also the one she used earlier running from the house.

“Come, Jamison. Now. We’re going on an adventure. Start running, baby, and don’t look back.”

We run through the cornfield that sits behind our house.

I don’t know who owns it, but it must belong to someone because every year corn shows up and every year they chop it down.

On the other side of the field, I hear yelling.

It sounds like the slur of Bill’s words I’ve heard so often in the last month.

I look at Mommy, and she puts her first finger to her lips and reaches around the stalk between us to squeeze my hand.

He’s mad. I can tell by the way Mommy’s eyes dart around like the rolly-pollies do when I pick up the big rocks in the backyard.

Her forehead is wrinkled and she’s pretending to smile.

Sweat forms on the edge of her face where her skin starts and her red hair ends.

Mommy’s hand is sweaty and my foot is really starting to hurt. It’s only now that I realize we aren’t having an adventure. Adventures are fun and exciting. This is scary and strange. No, this isn’t an adventure. We are hiding.

We are hiding from Bill and his sour breath, his bruised fists, and his worn belt. We are playing Huck Finn but not the part where he rides the river and smokes cigars and pretends. We are playing the part where he is a prisoner and alone and he runs from his daddy who is a drunk and a monster.

Bill is mad. He’s drunk and mad, and he’s coming.

He’s the bass.

And we are the minnows.