Page 69 of The Hermit on the Hill

"Of course." I meant it. I'd always been a bit of a loner at heart, and I didn't care if the town glared at me. What broke my heart was that Sam hadn't told me the truth, had never really opened up to me.

Cody and I got back to work, but our booth, along with all the Reynolds family booths, had considerably less traffic than the surrounding ones.

Three more locals came over throughout the day to let us know we were a disgrace and didn't deserve to live in Catalpa Creek. I stood up for my family, but it didn't seem to make any impact.

Finally, midafternoon, when I was yawning non-stop, Carrie stopped by with the kids in tow to let us know that she'd heard from her friend Dilly that the locals were telling everyone they could to avoid our booths for a long list of reasons, including Cody's wine being poisonous and Mom being a cheat who stole from her guests.

"Still feel like you can handle the town's enmity?" I asked Cody as we packed up at the end of the day.

He stopped what he was doing to stare at me. "The town's what?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

He grinned. "You never could resist using those ten-dollar words and confusing the hell out of me."

"And you never could resist pretending to be dumber than you are, so I'd have to explain myself ten times." I stepped closer. "Seriously, Cody, this is so much worse than I expected. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine. What about you? Still willing to work in the Tasting Room on Monday? I can't promise you won't get the same sort of rudeness there."

I shrugged and smiled, forcing a cheer onto my face I didn't entirely feel. "If I can handle college students calling me terrible names for not raising their grade or giving them credit for work they didn't do, I can handle the malcontents of Catalpa Creek."

Cody laughed. "Seeing as how you tamed the biggest malcontent of them all, I believe you, Jen."

"Hey, Jenna," Carrie said, stepping into the booth, looking impossibly put together in jeans and a short-sleeved cardigan after a day spent with her kids at a hot outdoor festival. "I can help Cody. You must be exhausted. You should go home and rest."

"Thanks. This growing a human gig is egg-austing." I laughed at my joke, but Cody and Carrie just stared. "Because the baby started as an egg and…" I waved a hand. "Never mind. If I have to explain it and all that."

Carrie smiled. "I don't think I could have stood out here all day when I was six months pregnant. You've earned that rest."

I walked back to the library parking lot, took a seat on the curb, and texted Sam. I could have asked any of my family members for a ride home and they would have gladly obliged, but I needed to see Sam and I couldn't wait around for them to pack everything up.

When Sam's truck pulled up fifteen minutes later, he wasn't behind the wheel. Marcus was.

***

"Where is he?" I asked as I slid into the passenger seat of the truck.

"He's at the house." Marcus kept the truck in park and twisted in his seat to look at me. "He asked me to take you wherever you want to go. He'll pay for a hotel room if that's what you want."

"He doesn't want to see me?" I wanted the chance to find out why Sam lied to me and to yell at him. That he wasn't even going to try to change my mind, that he was ready to give up on us, hurt.

Marcus sighed. "He's an idiot, Jenna, but he cares about you. So much. He wants what's best for you, and he thinks that's not him."

"What do you think?"

"Sam is my best friend. He's a loyal, big-hearted guy, who's been there for me no matter what, even when he annoyed the hell out of me and I told him to fuck off. He doesn't turn away from the people he cares about. I think you and that baby you're carrying are the best things that have ever happened to him, and he cares enough about you both that he'll push you away with everything he is if he thinks that's what's best for you."

"He lied to me."

Marcus nodded. "I'm sorry I took part in that lie and believe me, I gave him hell for it. He wanted to give you time to get to know him better, to be sure you trusted him, before he told you. You're such a good person, he wasn't sure you'd be able to accept this part of him, and he's not ready to give up on this revenge he's got planned." Marcus shook his head and stared out the windshield at the setting sun. "Though, to be honest, I'm not sure he's really wanted to go through with it for a while now. He's been moving the goalpost for dropping the hammer on the town for months."

I appreciated Marcus' words, but I couldn't let myself take hope from them. Clearly, he was biased about Sam. "Thank you for that, Marcus, but I should talk to Sam about this."

"Of course, but before you do, I just…" He slapped his hands on his thighs as though he'd decided something. "What this town did to Sam and his grandmother was fucked up, Jenna. Sam was a little boy, alone with his sick grandmother and his little sister, and not a single person in this town bothered to check on them. Sam had to watch his grandmother die."

I slapped a hand over my mouth, tears springing to my eyes. "I had no idea."

"He doesn't talk about it. I didn't know the story until he convinced me to come back here to help him get revenge." Marcus leaned in. "You ever watched someone you love die? You ever had to sit there, helpless, feeling like your entire world was ending?"

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