He greets me with a handshake. “Julian,” he says, nodding once. “Tommy said you were staying here too. Didn’t realize you were sticking around. Thought you might have just been passing through.”
“I’ll be here for a while,” I say, glancing at Stevie, who’s smiling at me like she knows something I don’t. The truth is, Ishouldbe on my way out of here. The minute I step foot outside, I should get in that truck, call in a flight plan, and get the fuck out of this town. Complicated usually means dangerous with the life I’ve led. But there isn’t anything waiting for me back at home. I have friends in numerous places and work that I can do almost anywhere. And I had planned to findher. I’ve been alone for a long time, even when my dad was still alive. I’ve been gliding through life, enjoying what my talent allowed for me, but from the moment I left her, I wanted to find the woman who made me feel something. The one I couldn’t stop thinking about. And now I have. Yeah, I’m not fucking going anywhere.
“Where’s Theo?” Jameson asks.
She tips her head back to the ceiling as she mumbles, “It’s too early for this shit.” When she looks at him, she says, “I don’t know; I’m not his keeper.”
“Just his wife, though, right?” he bites back, trying to speak more quietly when I look at him. “I was just asking where he might be today and why you’re dropping Nash here.”
She smiles, like what she’s about to say is going to be sweet. “Theo was tied up,” she smirks. “And I have a podcast I need to record, but you already knew that. I am, after all, practically doing your job for you.”
I sniff out a laugh that has both of them looking at me. Leaning against the counter, I cross my feet at my ankles. I glance at Jameson, and while he’s not the kind of guy people would want to piss off, I’m finding their exchange a bit entertaining and can’t help myself when I add, “Whether or not you’re doing other people’s jobs for them, you’re pretty damn good at yours and hunting down information. Entertaining while sharing it, too.”
She’s smiling from what I’ve said when she looks back at Jameson. “When’s the last time someone said you were pretty damn good at your job?”
He runs his hand along the back of his neck, trying his damndest to keep himself in check. “I’m a homicide detective, not a shit stirrer, so you’re not doing my?—”
She crosses her arms. “Do you have any idea what’s going on in the department you’re a part of?”
He crosses his arms, and under his breath, mutters, “Here we go again.”
Stevie doesn’t stop though. “I know you were MIA for a long-ass time, but seriously, Jameson? Sexual assault allegations aren’t being followed through on, there aredozensof missing persons, and those are just the violent-like crimes alone...”
“I don’t need to hear this right now. I’ve got a case that won’t close, a serial...” He pauses and takes a breath. “I’ve got a lot on my plate. And to top it off, a missing deputy.”
“Oh, so a missing cop is more important than?—”
“I’m not in charge, Stevie. I have to do what I’m told. I know it’s a novel idea to you. Deputy Billings has a helluva reputation, too, and I wouldn’t mind focusing my attention elsewhere, but like I said, I need to follow what is being asked of me. So, I’m in town...”
I focus on what Nash is doing as soon as I hear about the missing cop. “Dinosaur fan?” I ask him as he starts lining up a parade of figurines.
The chances that the body I cleaned up is exactly who the detective and the entirety of the Rumor County Sheriff’s Department is looking for has me feeling nauseous.Fuck my life.
Nash empties the rest of his bag and gives me the side-eye. “Isaid, the Quetzalcoatlus is a pterosaur, which means it’s not really a dinosaur.”
Focusing back on him, I ask, “I thought they were all dinosaurs.”
“Technically, dinosaurs can’t fly, so anything that flew during the Jurassic or Cretaceous period were just flying reptiles,” he says as he moves the pterosaur in a flying motion above the line of herbivores.
“I have a few more we can paint later, Nash,” Tommy says from his spot at the kitchen table. Nash’s eyes light up when he looks at Tommy, who starts helping him. And though Tommy is his great-uncle, I remember looking at my dad like that as a kid—he always made time for me. “Auntie Wyn said that you have some books in your library about dinosaurs. I need to show my mom and dad that I’m right about pterosaurs.”
“You could look it up on my phone and show them,” Tommy offers, but Nash is already shaking his head.
“Not as reliable. A book would be better,” he says, and I can’t help but crack a smile.
I glance over to Stevie, who just swatted Jameson’s hand away from pointing to a spot on her neck, quieting the back-and-forth between them.
When she notices my attention, she says, “Yeah, I know. Kid blows my mind regularly.” She looks back to Jameson and adds, “You’re welcome to spend time with him any time you want to grace us all with your presence?—”
“I thought you were running late,” Tommy says to her. “Go. I got him.” Waving her off, he looks at Nash. “Want to help me in the workshop? I’ve got a project I need to finish and could use another set of hands.”
She drums her fingers on the counter and says, “Alright, Nashie baby, I’m off to make the world a greater place.”
Jameson makes a sound that has her casually flipping him off as she rushes out the door after kissing Nash’s head.
“Julian, want to join us?” Tommy asks. “There’re some tools you might know a little something about. Belonged to an old friend, hasn’t been here in a while, but you might put them to use. If you’re going to be here a bit longer, that is.”
I pour out the rest of the coffee in the sink and place the ceramic mug into the dishwasher. “I’ll be here a bit longer,” I say to him. “I’m going to stop in town, see if I can get my hands on some materials.” My inbox and missed calls from galleries had been piling up for a while, but I haven’t felt inspired to do anything original for a long while now. My creative well dried up when my father passed, then ten months ago, I walked into a bar and met a woman. And it woke up something in me again. I’ve been so focused on finishing out the favors owed from the cleaning business that making something beautiful has been the last thing on my mind. And then I woke up this morning and thought maybe it’s time to shift focus again. The bed-and-breakfast isn’t far from the main strip of what’s considered downtown Rumor. Tommy advised that I take a walk instead of drive. The way my shirt is sticking to me as sweat slicks my back, I know that from now on, late August in Tennessee means that I drive.
