“Dearest Pru, we know how hard it can be starting over. We wish you nothing but the best. If you ever need anything, know that you can come to us. You’ve always got a place to land with us, hun.
Beast wishes and all of our love,
The Trees
Beast wishes. What a funny typo, all things considered on the overly hairy front.
No, that’s unkind of me. The Tree men were hairy and grumbly but never beastly, never towards me. They never made fun of my lack of hair, not in any kind of negative way outside of childish teasing I was used to from the boys back then.
Not even king grump Cypress on his worst day would go there, not with any real intent.
They simply chose to remove themselves from my personal life when Elm did. Out with one, out with them all, I guess.
Opening the other envelope, I gaped as I spied a short stack of hundred dollar bills. Were they serious?! There’s a couple grand here, easy.
“What in the world?! I can’t take this! Are they crazy?!”
Shaking my head, I shoved my feet back into my boots, threw on my coat, and stuffed the enormous mega turkey I didn’t need and would be eating off of until it went bad because I’d stupidly blown most of my grocery bill for the next two weeks on this feast into the fridge.
Stuffing the money back into the envelope, I shoved it into my coat pocket. Nabbing up my purse and keys, I was out the door in a flash.
By the time I got back to the store it was getting dark and the small strip of mom and pop stores that served as a sort of town square or unnamed Main Street were starting to close up for the day.
Pulling my car around back, I blew out a deep breath as I threw it in park. As I stepped out and walked towards their store, Birch paused as he loaded their van, a heavy looking container full of odds and ends in his arms.
“Purr-rue,” he grunted out. His lips twitched as he used the silly butchering of my name I didn’t mind one bit. I hadn’t heard it in so long I couldn’t help the little flip my heart gave to hear it. So at least he hadn’t forgotten me completely.
“Britches,” I teased right back, making the male grin like a goob as he got back to it.
Had his teeth seemed sharp? Or was it the lack of good lighting making funny shadows? Was he going through some kind of vampire phase? It’s too late for Halloween fun. Brushing the silly thought away, I knocked on the back door and called out to Sunny. Maybe he had braces and his teeth shifted. What did I know?
“No want!” Cypress called out, popping up from where he was squatting behind a shelf full of candy and fruit leather, presumably restocking it. The jerk had the audacity to wink at me, blue eyes twinkling with amusement at the look I gave him. Someone was in a weirdly good mood, weren’t they.
He’d heard I’m moving. Maybe it made his day, I thought sourly.
Sticking my tongue out at him as I stepped inside, I sing-songed, “Wasn’t asking you.” With an overdone roll of my eyes, I mock grumbled back, “Where’s your ma, Grump?”
“Grumped. Hah!” Cypress smirked, the closest he ever got to smiling, and jerked a thumb towards the office I knew was in the back.
Giving in to the urge riding me, leaning over and messing his mop top of brown and white on my way, I taunted, “You need a haircut. People are going to think you’re part highland cow!”
Birch must have slipped in behind me at some point, the sneaky bastard, bursting out in that rich, deep laugh of his from behind me to jump out next to me and point at his sibling tauntingly. “She say- She say you cow,” Birch howled out between hooting laughs.
Cypress rolled his eyes at Birch but then shocked me by gamely letting out a lowing bellow.
“Muhrooooo!” Cypress’ awful cow impressions and Birch’s laughter followed me as I burst out laughing, shook my head at them, and strode down the hall.
Cy was in a surprisingly good mood tonight. Must be due to it being closing time. Cypress was anything but a people person. Heusedto be, I had to correct. Despite how easy it was to fall right in with them again, it’s been years, they’d all dropped me. It would be dangerous for my mental health to let them back in so thoroughly again just to be dumped once more.
“What in tarnation is that jiggle-woggin’ awful noise?” Sunny called out as she popped her head out of her office. Spying me headed towards her, the confused look on her face turned into a scowl.
That scowl on her sunshiny, sweet face deepened as I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out her envelope, and held it out to her.
Shaking my head, ignoring the way my stomach dropped at that look on her face, I told her, “I appreciate it, really I do, you have no idea, but I can’t-” My voice started to crack. Pausing, I cleared my throat and tried again. “I can’t accept this.”
Sunny blinked at that, then did a bit of head shaking of her own. “Of course you can.” Pushing my outstretched hand and the envelope in it back towards me, she gave me a look that could peel paint. “We want to help,” she said simply in her don’t-you-dare-say-no-to-me-missy mom voice. “It’s awful how life’s doing you,” she went on, but I couldn’t stand here and let her take the burden off my shoulders like that, any of it. A fat chunk of this mess was of my own, uninspired doing.
Where was the burden worrying when Elm went MIA on me? Where was the concern for me all those years ago? I couldn’t help it as the thought entered my brain.
