I shiver.
Can’t help it. I know it’s only a matter of time before someone finds out my mom’s in prison and why. Junie and I are both finally feeling like we might fit in here. Not quite all the way to fitting entirely, but close enough to see that it’s a possibility. I can’t drop into Iron Moose, the diner, the sandwich shop, the bakery, Opal’s, you name it in downtown, without getting greetings from people that I’m starting to think of as friends.
And yes, I know I’m overcompensating by volunteering for everything under the sun, from taking a look at a running toilet to switching out faulty outlets to offering to help paint someone’s nursery, but I have those skill sets, my alimony is enough to pay my bills, and right now, I need to feel like a contributing member of the community more than I need to feel like people like me merely because I was famous at exactly one level aboveI had five minutes of fame for going viral on social media.
But the biggest point is that we’re almost there. We very nearly belong. I don’t want to know if the people here would shun us if they found out what Mom did.
I just want to live in my happy bubble where I feel like I’m finding my place and Junie’s talking to me again and I feel optimistic about the future.
It’s lovely to be here in this mental and emotional space again.
But stronger than I was when I was with Dean.
Knowing that if I can walk away from my marriage and start over again with Junie here, I can handle anything.
“You have secrets?” Flint asks me, clearly curious about my silence.
If he thinks he’s getting another secret out of me, he issowrong.
“Do youhonestlythink taking me down into a root cellar and showing me my uncle’s foot-fetish collection earns you the right to any more of my secrets?” I deadpan.
He stares right back for a split second, and then the craziest thing happens.
He laughs.
And not just any old laugh.
No, this is a full-on, doubled-over,wheezing so hard he probably has tears in his eyeskind of laugh.
AnI’ve been trying to hold it together and be stoic all morning, and you have finally broken mekind of laugh.
I back up and sink to the steps in the small stairwell under the door and watch him completely lose his shit in the best possible way.
This man has a past. He has relationship damage. He definitely has trust issues. He’s probably every bit as lonely as I’ve felt more times than I care to admit in the past few years.
But even with all his own issues, he’s taking care of Junie at school, and he did the best he could to make room for her on the soccer team.
“What are you going to do with all of this?” I ask him once he’s quit laughing. “Because I am one hundred percent on theThis is Flint’s Problemtrain, for the record.”
He looks down at the box, then flashes me the most mischievous grin I have ever seen in my entire life. “EBay or Etsy.”
“Oh my God.”
“Athletic department budget got cut last year. I know a guy who’ll put it up for us, won’t ask questions, and funnel the profits back to the school. Might even be enough to get that liability-insurance packagethe principal won’t approve. Those are some hot feet there. They’ll fetch a pretty penny.”
“Oh my God.”
He grins broader.
Every ounce of me freakingswoons.
Trouble?
No.
It’s way worse than that.
Chapter 15
