Page 2 (1/2)

After you grow up living in fear of whatelse compares That fear prepared me It’s why I didn’t fall apart when I had to live in my car for three weeks Also, why I didn’t panic when I went three days without any food I’d knoorse things than starvation or even death Sevenon my own successfully Every day that passed I felt htot war the phone to takethirty ain

I was tired My feet hurt I needed to wash the stench off e No one called e, but rarely And that could wait I needed this war stopped as I stepped into the shower and started again They were calling back What in the world? Ethel never did that My nuh the list of people in rowled in frustration and turned off the water Jerking the towel off the hook that had probably been rusting since the 1980’s, I wrapped the towel around et the phone Checking the phone screen, hoping nothing was seriously wrong, I sighed and closed ot this call about once every eight weeks or so The first tiest Sutton brother had ht iven it to hiet in touch with ency, he’d siiven me an update on Bray He didn’t askabout Brent He’d only toldabout his phone calls was odd He never told otten my number He’d barely letthree of the same calls over the past few months, I knehat to expect

"Hello" I prepared myself for whatever he would say

"It’s time you come home," Dallas Sutton said sie of conversation topic

"You heardup

I held the cell phone in my hand and stared at it for several h school We’d never been close, but he called es This phone call was the o back to Moulton The past, my memories, all dwelled there Every inch of that toould re o back there"

Bray Sutton

LAST NIGHT I should have had a few beers and been done But no, I had to drink a fifth of whiskey It wasit in with a wo bank accounts, a bedrooiven hi, but Asher wouldn’t agree to staying up late drinking the night before his wedding He wanted us all sober He wouldn’t let Dixie down

Instead of getting up and drinking coffee, taking a shower, andmyself presentable for work, I was outside behind our barn sar A Churchill reject to be exact Tasted just as good and it didn’t hurt to pay for it I’d bought it when Asher and Dixie’s wedding date had been set Even then I knew I’d need it Celebrating wasn’tthe only woman he’d ever loved I was happy they had found that fairytale bullshit What they had was rare, too fucking rare

Seeing the spot beside Dixie Monroe where her best friend should be would only serve as a reminder to me of what I had wanted What I’d been so damn obsessed with that I didn’t care who I hurt My relationship with Brent, ed as a result We had found a way to ive, live, but ould never be the saar in my hand, I looked out over the land that separated our farm from Dixie’s I had many memories with Scarlet out there Secret, hidden , I was cheating on o back and do it differently Scarlet was gone Brent wasor another She had pulled up in our drive after getting lost about three o Brent went to her car to see if he could help They’d talked a bit and when she left, he’d walked back out to the barn grinning with a piece of paper in his hand

He’d gotten the girl’s number She was from somewhere up north Moved down here for work She was in life insurance Brent had been in love after teeks To say it was hard to sto myself for Scarlet’s return or some crazy shit, but my heart was unattached The woood time Until Scarlet, that was all I was ever in it for She’d been different She’d seen me She’d looked past the fucked-up stuff others always saw It wasn’t the bad boy she wanted She wanted me