“What the fuck happened? I was at the bar and I heard a sound—Holy shit!”
Cranbury wheels on Jack. “You! Get a tow truck for my car. I need someone to help me,” he says in a slow voice as though we’re retards incapable of understanding English.
A very sour look descends over Jack’s face. “You crashed into Brenda’s store, you fucking moron. What if there were people inside? It’s a miracle it was closed.”
“Here! Take more, you greedy bastards. I don’t give a shit!”
He tosses the rest of his money clip on the ground, where it starts to blow away. There’s probably a thousand dollars, the bills gently fluttering in the breeze. Thrown away like trash. He slides his credit cards out, too, and flings the plastic toward us.
“Take them.”
I take a few furious steps toward Cranbury, and my fist smashes into his jaw. His whole body lifts a little as I hurl my strength into one punch, determined to flatten him. His hand flies to cheek as his back hits the pile of discarded money, a flaming red mark already rising on his cheek.
“You hit me!”
“Want another one? Stand the fuck up.”
He sits up, his chest inflating like a balloon. “I’ll fucking sue you!” he screeches. “You and this redneck town. When my father hears of this, we’ll shut you down! You’ll never be able to pick up a fucking wrench again.”
I boot his chest, forcing him down like the paralyzed insect that he is. “You have no power over me. I can’t be bought. No one in this town can be bought. So take your fucking money and shove it up your ass. You’ve lost Fair Oaks privileges. Get. Out.”
He wheezes as I release the boot from his chest, and I shut my eyes and ears against his voice. Knowing if I hear it one more time, I might do something I really regret—like kill him.
“My chest hurts! I think I might have a collapsed lung—the impact—”
Don’t listen.
When my eyes open again, I find Jack scooping up the hundreds of dollars and shoving them back in Cranbury’s wallet. “Call him a fucking tow truck.”
“Why do I have to do it?”
“Because if I have to hear one more words from that jackass, I’ll kill him. Do you really want that on your conscience?”
Jack shrugs, giving the still whining Mark a very nasty look. “Fine.” He slides his phone out of his pocket.
By the time the tow truck arrives, everyone in town has heard about the car crash. There’s a group of people huddled around Brenda, consoling her about the damage to her store. My brother filed a police report and finished his interviews, but Brenda decided not to press charges. Probably cause he promised her more than double the amount it would take to fix it.
Everyone watches as the tow truck lifts the mangled Benz from the store and drags it away, Cranbury already in the truck’s passenger seat with the air-conditioning full blast. He was still bleating about his father when Jack returned.
Then the truck slowly wheels away. Thank God.
Jack stands beside me, smirking. “How long do you think before he sobers up and realizes he left his credit cards and ID behind?”
Eight
Olivia
I aim my little dustpan toward the spades of broken glass, bits of plaster, and chocolate strewn over the floor. This thing is hardly big enough to clean the store, but I begged Gage for hours to let me help, and this was all he had.
It’s all my fault.
Glass scrapes across the tiles as I sweep and quickly fill the pan. I try not to look anyone in the eyes as I stand and dump the mess into the large trash can hauled into the middle of the room. I bump into Trudy as I bend back down to start sweeping another corner.
Cleaning up Chocolate Covered Gifts and Things abruptly became a town effort once everyone realized an outsider plowed into Brenda’s store. There was no vote, just a unanimous decision to meet at the store at eight a.m. Trudy brought ice tea so the volunteers would be refreshed, and George’s wife had a crockpot of her famous chili.
The support beams were completely destroyed. They’ll have to be rebuilt, along with the ruined window. Brian, who works in construction, drove his truck over with a pallet of spare wood from finished houses. He brought his saw, his tools, everything.
Everyone dropped what they were doing save for the people with 9-5 jobs to pitch in the moment they