Page 73 of Lightning in a Mason Jar

She sat up straighter. “What’s casting a line mean?”

I’d piqued her interest. I held back a smile. “It’s throwing the fishing line in as far as you can. Since it’s gonna be a bit before the car is ready”—and while Thea figured out a job for the woman—“how about I show you our collection of cane fishing poles? If you like it, we’ll drop a line in and catch some supper. Lucky for you, kids under sixteen don’t need a fishing license.”

It about broke my heart when her eyes narrowed for a moment. The hardened gesture spoke volumes about the kind of life she’d led so far. But it made the reward of her nod all the sweeter when it came.

“All right, then,” she agreed, tilting her chin at me. “I’ll try.”

2025

Martin tossed his citation booklet on his kitchen counter, worn out in a way that had nothing to do with work. He’d been agitated since his lunch with Bailey Rae the day before. He’d had such high hopes for persuading her to stay in Bent Oak at least a while longer, just to see where the connection between them might lead. But she’d cut him off at the knees. Sure, she’d mentioned going out for a meal with him if he was in the area, but he couldn’t miss her determination to leave. The rejection stung more than he would have expected.

His restless feet carried him around his efficiency apartment over the hardware store on Main Street. Not optimal for the long term, but the simple digs suited him for now. He spent most of his time in theoffice or out in the field anyway, so he didn’t care much about where he rested his head at night.

Except today, the walls echoed with silence that felt suffocating.

He pulled up a playlist on his phone and dropped onto the sofa while Chris Stapleton’s mellow voice soothed his soul. Maybe news at work this morning had triggered a callback to the shooting in the hangar. Evidence continued to stack up against Ian Abernathy and how unhinged he’d become since learning Gia and his brother Owen were having an affair. A second autopsy had been ordered to confirm the drowning may not have been accidental.

What a mess.

A knock thumped on the door—odd, because he never had visitors. He turned off the music and checked the peephole to find Keith and June standing in the corridor. Had something happened with Libby?

He unbolted the lock and swung the door wide. “Good afternoon, what brings you this way?”

Keith stepped aside to let June enter first, then followed. “Hope you don’t mind us stopping by unannounced. Bailey Rae asked us to drop off some things you might like to have. Canned goods and a quilt with a wildlife theme.”

Any other time, he would have been touched by the gesture. But right now, it felt like a slap in the face that she hadn’t wanted to deliver the items personally. “That’s thoughtful of her—and of you two to bring it over.”

June placed a small basket full of jars onto his kitchen table, by his work cap. “We’re trying to help her as much as she’ll let us. She was clearing out the last things in the cabin and wanted to say thanks for everything you’ve done for us—for Gia and Cricket too.”

Martin closed the door. “I would have come by.”

June abandoned her unloading to face him while Keith draped the quilt over the arm of the sofa. “She’s in ‘flight mode,’ hiding from emotions—just like when she was a kid. Don’t take it personally, Martin.”

Her insight fit well with his own perception of Bailey Rae, even if he didn’t much care for the way she’d shut him out.

“Is that why she’s leaving town?” And talking of low-key lunches when he’d just asked her to stay?

Sighing, June said, “She has it in her head that moving to Myrtle Beach is the best way to honor Winnie’s memory. Bailey Rae just can’t seem to grasp that Winnie would want her to live her best life. Wherever that may be.”

After all she’d shared about her childhood, he could see why she might want to make a fresh start. As he had by coming to Bent Oak. Who was he to deny her a new beginning? “I’ll be sure to thank her when I see her at the July Fourth market tomorrow. Well, as long as I don’t get called into work.” Martin scratched the back of his neck. “There’ve been some teens, um, up to no good out in the woods lately.”

Keith dropped to sit on the sofa, making himself at home. “June and I weren’t the best of teenagers, but we had good people on our side.” He elbowed June lightly. “Remember when Russell taught us to drive? I thought for sure he was gonna have a heart attack.”

Martin motioned for June to have a seat before pulling up a kitchen chair for himself. “I didn’t realize the two of you grew up together in Bent Oak.”

June tucked her colorfully streaked hair behind her ear. “I, uh, emancipated at sixteen. Russell and Winnie let me stay with them until I turned eighteen.”

Martin reconfigured the histories of Winnie and her friends as he learned those details, trying to make all the pieces fit. At times, though, he felt like those histories kept changing.

Keith clasped his hands between his knees. “My mom and I moved here when I was six, the same day Winnie arrived as well. We showed up at the same time because of a big hiring fair at the mill. I spent evenings at Winnie’s and Russell’s whenever Mom had a late shift. I was there so much I even carved my initials into a windowsill at the cabin.”

There was definitely a family vibe among the people Winnie had made her friends. He could see that all the more clearly now. The details didn’t matter as much as the connection. And none of the people she’d pulled into her orbit had actually been related to her—a testament to the way people could build strong relationships with the friends they chose.

Bailey Rae had been lucky to land in such a supportive community. He had too, for that matter. Of course he wouldn’t have gotten to know these people without Bailey Rae as a bridge of sorts. He would miss her when she left, but he also realized he would no longer isolate himself.

Time for him to reenter the world ... he had Bailey Rae to thank for that. Something he intended to tell her when they said goodbye.

Chapter Twenty

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