Page 19 of Cursed Fox

"Nancy? Nancy Green? Is that you, darlin'?" Bee waddled her old self across the place and pulled Nancy in for a hug. "It is you."

It was obvious to everyone in the diner—except possibly Bee—that Nancy wasn't very receiving of the hug. Her arms hung down at her sides and a frown pinched her face.

"Bee, I think you're crushing her." I stepped in and tried to save the woman who I was slowly starting to care a little too much about.

The old woman stepped back but said, "Nonsense,” anyway. “These old arms couldn't hurt a fly."

I smirked. "I've watched you kill several flies in this place."

"It's an expression," Bee scolded me.

"Obviously not a very good one," I returned, then grabbed Nancy's hand and pulled her along until I found an open table off to the one side. It was bad enough that everyone in the diner was staring at us, I didn't want to make it worse by grabbing a table in the middle of the place as well. Nancy didn't need that.

Bee didn't get the hint and followed behind. I whispered, "I'm sorry about this," in Nancy's ear before Bee caught up with us.

I watched Nancy take a deep breath and paste on the fakest smile I ever saw. "Hi, Bee."

"I just can't believe my eyes." Bee barely took a breather before she continued on. "I never thought I would?—"

"Grams." Jo, Bee's granddaughter, stepped up to the table and interrupted. "They need you back in the kitchen."

"Good heavens." Bee huffed. "I swear they can't do a dang thing without me."

I waited until Bee made it to the kitchen door before looking at Jo. "Thank you for that."

Jo smiled. "Any time. I know how my grandmother can get, and if left to her own devices, she would've talked your ears off. Sorry about that." She turned to Nancy. "I'm Jo, by the way."

"Hi." This time the smile on Nancy's face was genuine. "And yes, thank you for the save. I should've known coming here was going to be similar to being dropped into a pit of vipers. I didn't exactly leave this town on the best of terms."

"No need to thank me. I know how my grandmother can get. Now what can I get you today?"

We both ordered drinks and the daily special. When Jo walked away to put our order in, I jumped at the chance to find out a little more about Nancy.

I leaned over the table some before I asked, "So what is it about Willow Creek that you don't like?"

Based on the sour look on her face, Nancy wasn't too keen on answering, so I was surprised when seconds later she spoke. "I grew up here."

I waited for her to say more, but when it was obvious that was all she was going to give me, I raised a brow. "That's it?"

With a heavy sigh, Nancy spoke again. "No, that's not all. I met my ex-husband when I was in high school. Everyone in town convinced me it would be smart to get married and have his kids, so I listened. After I had my son, Jimmy, I decided to become a stay-at-home mother. Well"—she snorted—"it was more like it was decided for me. As soon as both kids were in school, I wanted to go back to work. But my ex convinced me not to. Said a woman's role was in the home. Like an idiot, I listened. Then I found out that he’d been cheating on me for years. We fought about it, and then one day, he drained our bank accounts and left."

What a fucking asshole.

"And no one in town helped you?" I found that hard to believe. With how much these people were in each other'sbusiness, I thought for sure they would've rallied around Nancy and her kids to make sure they were okay.

"Honestly, they probably would have, but I didn't give them the chance. When the bank foreclosed on the house because the prick hadn't been paying the mortgage, I was too embarrassed to face anyone. I packed the kids up and moved us out of town before anyone could question me."

After hearing her story, I felt even worse about bringing her back. I knew all too well how it felt to face my demons. I didn't want Nancy to have to go through that.

"We can leave Willow Creek tonight. Find someplace else to stay while I figure out who’s threatening Jimmy and you."

Nancy shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm overdue to face this problem."

I wasn't so sure about that. "If you change your mind, just say the word and we leave, got it?"

"Got it." Nancy smiled at me and that feeling in my chest was back again. The one I didn't know what to do with or how to feel about it.

CHAPTER TWELVE

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