Page 90 of Make You Mine

She crossed her arms. “I ain’t one for hiding.”

“You’re one forliving, I hope.”

She hesitated, then went back inside her diner, though she didn’t look happy about it.

“Now you listen to me,” the sheriff said as he approached Jayce. “If you’re thinking of starting trouble here in the middle of the day, inmytown…”

“This is the Copperheads’ town,” Jayce corrected. “And they’re coming here now.”

That’s when I noticed the pistol on Jayce’s hip. That, along with his fatalistic tone, made my stomach sink even deeper. “What’s happening, Jayce? What have you done?”

He looked up the road to the north at something I couldn’t see. “Something I should’ve done a long time ago.”

The money.

“Jayce, no!” I grabbed his arm. “You don’t have to do this.”

“It’s the only way,” he said, still looking to the north. “Leave with the sheriff while you still can.”

“Youcan leave!” I insisted. “Why don’t you leave, Jayce?”

“Not much point.”

I hated how he sounded resigned to whatever was about to happen. Like he was already dead. “There’s no point toliving?”

“Nothin’ worth living for.”

He glanced at me finally. Waiting for me to say what my soul wanted to say. ThatIwas worth living for. That we could be together.

But I couldn’t make myself do it. I was still too hurt to say the words.

“You were right,” Jayce admitted when he realized I wasn’t going to say anything. “What you called me in that jail cell all those weeks ago. I’m just an asshole who only cares about himself. But today, I’m gonna fix that.”

“By killing Sid?”

“Someone has to, Peaches,” he said with a sad smile. “Someone has totry.”

I wanted to argue more, to grab his arm and drag him away, but then a car came up the road toward us, not from the north, but from the south. I started to move out of the road, but then I stopped in my tracks.

Irecognizedthat car.

“No,” I groaned when I realized who was inside.

46

Charlotte

The car that drove up from the south was a Honda Accord, the definition of asensiblepurchase. Affordable, safe, and boring. Even the shade of grey was about as exciting as a trip to the DMV. It drove up the road, slowed down as it neared us, and then stopped on the shoulder in front of Mindy’s diner. The driver even turned on the emergency blinkers before climbing out.

Scott looked like he always did, whether he was working on the food truck, lifting weights at the gym, or going to church: a button-down shirt tucked into slacks, with a belt and shoes that matched. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbow. He looked like the phrasebusiness casualcome to life, and had the boring, formal voice to match it.

“Hi, Charlie,” he said as if we had never broken up.

I had to force my tongue to move. “What are you doing here, Scott?”

Jayce tensed when he heard the name. He turned and watched quietly, eyes now a little more alive than they were before.

Scott jerked his thumb. “The kid at the motel said you were up this way, with the sheriff. I did not expect to see you in the middle of the road, though.”

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