I led him to my room and rummaged through my dresser, handing him a linen button up and a pair of slacks that were a bit tight on me.
“Change,” I said and left him there to reclaim my seat on the porch.
When he re-emerged, he looked only slightly more presentable.
“The pants were too big,” he said while stuffing the tail of the shirt into his waistband.
The top was too big, too. The collar hung askew, and the cuffed sleeves dangled over the scarred heels of hishands. He’d brushed the dirt off the knees of his trousers at least. It would have to do.
“Good enough,” I muttered, and we headed for the forge.
I hadn’t realized how much pleasure I took in my trips around town, walking quiet paths and lonely alleys left to my own thoughts and to make my own pace. That day’s experience was entirely different. Penny lagged and looked at all the wrong things, studying the structure of the buildings in town, pointing out inane details in his chattery way, barely taking time to breathe between sentences. I responded by loading his willing arms with metal goods and pointing him into this shop and up that walkway, reminding him to be courteous to my customers. Courtesy he took a step too far, striking up lengthy conversations with everyone we met. He even got himself invited into Missus Higgins’s house and returned with a slice of the bread she had baked.
The delays made everything take twice as long, and it was getting dark by the time we dropped the cart back off at the forge.
As we walked toward the butcher shop, I was glad to have an excuse to make this final visit alone. “Wait outside while I talk to Ben. Considering how the two of you got on last night, I’d rather not deal with both of you in the same room again.”
Penny blushed. “What do you need to talk to him for?”
“If I want a house to come back to, I need someone to keep an eye on it. Ben is a town elder, so he’ll make sure it’s looked after.” That niggling feeling that this leave could be permanent flared up again, but I knuckled it down. “Don’t need to end up with squatters claiming it as their own.”
“Would they do that?”
I shrugged. “Don’t want to find out the hard way. Ahouse sitting empty for months on end could look mighty tempting.”
“Months?” Penny paled at the prospect.
“If I’m lucky. Took my father years.” I stopped in front of the butcher shop and shooed Penny toward the bench beneath the front window. “Try not to cause trouble while I’m in there.”
I pushed through the front door and found the shop empty except for Ben behind the counter.
A frown pinched his brows together, and his gaze shifted to me when I stopped across from him. “Afternoon, Kit.”
“Quiet day?” I asked, needing some sort of preamble to the nonsense I was about to drop in his lap. He’d always been decent to me since I showed up here four years ago, and I hated to take advantage of that. But there wasn’t anyone else in town I felt I could rely on.
“Waitin’ on the evenin’ rush.” He tipped his head toward where Penny’s tawny blonde head could be seen through the window. “He follow you here?”
I glanced out at Penny perched on the bench watching people passing by. He’d produced the small notepad and pencil I’d noticed tucked in his boot and was busily sketching, though I couldn’t tell what.
I turned back to the butcher. “He helped me with today’s deliveries.”
Ben grunted and leaned an arm on the counter. “He was tryin’ pretty hard to catch you. Guess he succeeded.”
“Guess so,” I muttered. “Listen, I’m heading out of town for a while. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but I hoped you could keep an eye on things at my house while I’m away.” I tugged a pouch of coins out of my pocket and dropped it on the counter along with a spare key.
Ben eyed the bag for a long time, bushy brows low overhis gray eyes. “You lettin’ that boy pull you into his trouble?”
A bitter chuckle slipped out before I could stop it. Technically, it was the other way around. Penny was a means to an end, and it wasn’t right for Ben to put the blame on him. Especially since I’d spent a good portion of the previous night lying in bed coming up with a believable lie to tell Penny when he eventually got around to asking what happened to the bodies after they were taken. I had tried to tell him he couldn’t get his father’s body back, but I hadn’t triedthathard. If he knew the truth, I’d lose my ticket back in. Let him find out once I was inside the gates so I could send him back home. All I needed was the foot in the door.
“It’s kind of my trouble, too,” I admitted.
Ben’s gaze met mine, and I was surprised by the concern there. I was aware the people of Forstford didn’t necessarily dislike me, but I hadn’t expected anyone to care enough to worry. Though given his reaction to the mob a few years back, I suppose Ishouldhave expected it, at least from him.
“Don’t have to be,” he said. “You got a good thing here. No one’s gonna blame you for keepin’ your head down and sendin’ him on his way. Kid oughta know better’n to pick away at someone’s past. You put it behind you for a reason.”
Rubbing a hand over the back of my neck did nothing to ease the prickle of discomfort at his concern. It was the same sensation I’d had thirteen years ago after my escape from the cult when a veritable stranger retrieved me from the mission in which I’d sought refuge. I’d grown accustomed to kindness while I lived with him, but any expectation of care had died when he did. The best I hoped for these days was a lack of disdain.
“Can’t run forever, Ben,” I said. “Have to face it eventually. This way I can help someone in the process.” I tried for a smile, but I could tell the older man didn’t buy it. “It’ll be nice to do something good for once.”
