Page 7 of Harmony Island Gazette
“Dad?” Juniper’s voice broke up the silence. We turned to see her approaching us from the cereal aisle.
She frowned as she glanced between me and her parents. “What’s going on here?” Her gaze lingered on me, and without thinking, I glanced over to Mrs. Godwin. Her eyebrows were so high, they looked as if they were going to disappear into her hair. Juniper seemed to pick up on it and turned her attention to her mom.
“Mother?” she asked. “What are you planning with Boone behind my back?” Her hands were on her hips.
Mrs. Godwin started sputtering. I could tell that she was flustered, and I felt bad for her. Her lips were moving but no sound was coming out. She kept glancing over at Mr. Godwin and then back to her daughter. I feared she would melt into a puddle on the floor, so I took a step toward them. “Mrs. Godwin was telling me how worried she was about her sister in California.”
All gazes snapped to me. Juniper’s eyes widened.
I swallowed and continued. “After her sister’s irregular mammogram”—that word felt weird on my tongue—“she was wanting Mr. Godwin to come with her to help support the two of them through this.” I paused. “Mr. Godwin would be there to help Mrs. Godwin, who is there to help her sister.” I pointed to imaginary people in front of me as I explained, as if that was all it took to make this situation make sense.
Silence filled the space around us as my words lingered in the air. I waited for someone to speak, but no one seemed ready to. I feared what I was going to say if I kept going, so I just stood there, waiting for someone—preferably Mrs. Godwin—to pick up the baton.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Juniper said.
I wasn’t the only one who was surprised she spoke first. We all turned to stare at her. She was studying the ground and nodding. When she looked up, she focused on her dad.
“I think you should go. I’m here. I can take over the store. Plus, with Katie, Sal, Jordan and Tom…” She paused and glanced up at me. “And Boone.” Was it wrong that my chest swelled a bit at the sound of my name on her lips? “We’ll hold the fort down. You should go be with Aunt Christi. She needs you guys, and Mom needs you, Dad.”
I watched as Juniper’s gaze settled on Mr. Godwin, whose expression was stoic. He wasn’t really looking at anyone in particular. He stared off into the distance as if he were chewing on Juniper’s words.
“What do you say, Rich?” Mrs. Godwin asked.
He glanced over at her and then sighed. “I don’t like the idea of leaving the store, but if it’s what you need, then we should go.”
Mrs. Godwin’s eyes filled with tears once more. She crossed the space between her and Mr. Godwin and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I suddenly felt like I was intruding on an intimate family moment. I took a step back and focused on the floor in front of me as I waited for them to break apart. Movement in front of me drew my attention up, and I met Juniper’s gaze. She was studying me like she was trying to figure something out.
Like she was trying to figuremeout.
Unsure of what I was supposed to do, I offered her a small smile. She blinked as if she hadn’t realized she’d been staring at me and moved her focus to her parents, who had released each other and stepped back.
“Let’s close up the store and head home,” Mr. Godwin said as Mrs. Godwin nodded.
I didn’t wait for Mr. Godwin to excuse me. I grabbed ahold of the cart began pushing it toward the back of the store. When I got to the swinging doors that led to the back room, I turned and backed through them.
Once I was alone, I straightened. I exhaled as I scrubbed my face with my hand before tipping my head back and staring up at the ceiling. Getting this involved with the Godwin family seemed the exact opposite of what I’d wanted to do when I got back to Harmony.
I hadn’t meant to insert myself into a family and pretend like my life wasn’t a complete disaster. I’d intended to come back and keep to myself. Now, I was not only keeping Juniper’s secret, I seemed to be Mrs. Godwin’s confidant as well.
If only these people knew how badly I’d failed my own family, they wouldn’t be so eager to let me into theirs. If they knew the real me, they’d stay as far away as possible.
I wasn’t a good person. And it was only a matter of time before they pushed me out of their lives forever.
3
ELLA
I yawned and stretched before pressing my hand into my lower back and curving it out to relieve the tension that had built up there. I slipped off my blue-light blocking glasses and closed my eyes before pinching the bridge of my nose. Gloria wanted me to proof the articles for Sunday before I left, so I’d spent the last few hours staring at a computer screen. My eyes were tired.
Gloria had been weird to me all day. After she learned about my encounter with the mystery man this morning, she was acting as if I couldn’t be trusted. Every time I walked into a room while she was talking to someone, she dropped her voice to a hush before she promptly ended the conversation.
My spidey sense was going haywire not only from what the mystery man had said, buthowhe’d said it. But I was willing to let her weird behavior pass. After all, Gloria was my boss. If something was off-limits, I was going to honor that. But her behavior just heightened my suspicion that things around this town weren’t exactly what people thought they were.
If she wanted to throw me off a scent, she was failing miserably.
My phone chimed. I flipped it over and glanced down to see a text from Asher. I smiled as I swiped the screen.
