My chest deflates. Rejection isn’t fun, and I expect to be rejected at many more places, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.
“Okay, no worries. Thanks, anyway!” I turn to head for the door.
“Wait!” Kat stops me, and I turn back. “Try the library a couple of doors down and across the street. Florence is a bit surly, but she won’t hold it against you that you’re new to town.”
“That’s a thing here?” I ask as my eyebrows shoot up.
Kat gives me a look of sympathy. “You’re in small town Texas. Yes, it’s a thing.”
“Geeze,” I whisper.
Nothing says, “Welcome to Mystic River,” quite like not being able to get a job because I wasn’t born and raised here. I shouldn’t be surprised. I grew up in a different town in Texas. It was larger than Mystic River, but the people there still had a small-town mentality.
Small town. Small minded.
“Not everyone is like that, present company included,” Kat is quick to explain. “Only some. Like, don’t bother trying Mystic River Hardware across the street. Old Man Hicks is a sweet man, but ignorantly sexist.”
“Noted.” I nod.
I should be writing all of this down.
Kat continues, “Mystic River Market is all right, but the hours are hell. With a son, that job may not be the best option. Susan owns the grill, and your experience as a waitress should help you there. She might be willing to give you lunch shifts.”
“Lunch shifts. Got it.”
Kat looks around as if she’s making sure no one else can hear, so I take a step closer. Lowering her voice, she continues, “I don’t recommend the hospital.”
“Hospital?” I question, feigning ignorance.
“Mystic River Psychiatric Hospital,” she confirms.
Like I’d ever go back to that hellhole. I mean, I know I will at some point. Can’t take down a piece of shit hospital unless I actually step foot in there…again.
“Don’t worry. Wasn’t even on my radar,” I inform her with a slight shake of my head.
Kat stops talking and hesitates, rolling her lips in.
I widen my eyes, pleading. “Please don’t stop now. You’re a wealth of information on this town.”
“It’s just…Do you mind working in a not-so-nice place?”
The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “What do you mean?”
“There’s a small bar just off Highway 35. It’s a bit run down.”
Quirking a brow, I question further. “Is the owner a creep or something?” A bar would be a great spot to get the people of Mystic River talking.
“Oh! No, not at all.” Kat shakes her head. “There are two of them, and they’re actually nice, despite what you might hear other people say.”
My shoulders relax. I don’t need a fancy workplace. If the people aren’t trying to stick their dick in me without consent because they think their wad of cash is enough, then I’m good.
“Why aren’t people nice to the owners of the bar?”
Motioning me to come closer, Kat lowers her voice. “When they were in high school, their girlfriend Scarlett went missing. Their father was convicted of her murder and is currently serving a life sentence in Texas State Penitentiary.”
“What!” I exclaim too loudly.
“Shhhhhh.” Kat waves her hands, glancing around to make sure no one else heard. “People don’t generally talk about it anymore. Scarlett was your typical small-town sweetheart, nice to your face and a bitch behind your back. She collected boyfriends like trophies, and those two were just a notch in her bedpost.” Kat sighs, looking up at the ceiling then back at me. “Lord, forgive me. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but she was a mean girl, and I was one of her targets. The fact that I’m almost a decade younger than her didn’t matter. If you were breathing, you had the potential to have Scarlett make your life hell.”
