Founder

Chapter 4-1

4

“Man, you best get where you’re going, because that battery is shot.”

Adam barely heard the driver’s parting words over the sound of the tow truck’s diesel engine. The truck rumbled up the hill until it reached the first driveway on the left, then carefully turned around and came back down. The driver raised a finger from the wheel toward Adam as he passed.

It had taken longer to jump Adam’s little hatchback than to haul it back onto the road. The tow truck driver had only charged fifty bucks (he called it the “JJ Special”), but it’d probably cost Adam another hundred and fifty to replace the battery. He still had a little money tucked away—he always kept a “blow town” kitty—but with no money coming in and no idea what was on the horizon… maybe he could squeak a couple more weeks out of this battery. He needed an oil change, too, and probably new spark plugs. The car’s engine miss was showing its ugly head too often for comfort when the prospect of restarting a stall was so uncertain.

The rearview mirror seemed off kilter. Adam adjusted it before encouraging the whining car up the mountain toward JJ’s, inadvertently catching sight of the darkness ringing his sunken, blue eyes. The mirror probably got moved during the tow, or—scary thought—maybe Adam didn’t sit as straight as he used to a whopping two weeks ago. He turned at the second driveway, taking it faster than he should have to keep the RPMs steady. He was nearly alongside JJ’s vehicle when he noticed Evie’s bicycle on the ground, and braked hard to avoid crushing it. The car stalled at the sudden stop. Adam heaved a relieved sigh as he switched off the ignition. The way things were going lately, he’d have done more damage to his car than to Evie’s bike.

JJ, standing on the front step, had seen the near miss. “Evie!” she yelled into the house. “What did I tell you about your bike? You’re lucky Adam didn’t run over the god—”

He grinned as JJ caught herself and rolled her eyes.

“—The god blessed thing. And hurry up if you don’t want Rachel to start without you. They already left and we need to get gas on the way.”

“I could drive,” Adam said.

“No thanks,” JJ snorted. “I’d rather not have to push start your car in the middle of town.” She put a hand on his shoulder, part affectionate and part directional, as they meandered away from the house. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” he said. He was getting a little tired of hearing that but tried to let it go, studying JJ in the dusky light instead. Her voice had a grating quality, and she looked as though sleep hadn’t been her number one priority lately, either. “You’re not exactly projecting rainbows and buttercups yourself.”

They walked over to a thick poplar tree, the one that had borne their initials since childhood. “One of the nurses at the hospital quit, so I’m stuck working crazy shifts for a while.”

“And?” he asked, knowing there was more. The two of them slid down, backs against the tree, until they both sat on the ground, shoulders touching. It had warmed up considerably since the recent early cold snap (the one that gave Adam hypothermia), but he wouldn’t want to sit on the cool earth for very long.

JJ sighed. “And Marcus has been hassling me. Calling at weird hours, showing up outside Evie’s school—”

“Has he showed up here?” Adam asked.

“No.”

She’d said it too fast, and he didn’t believe her. “JJ…”

“He hasn’t!” she protested, but quickly softened to, “Not exactly. Not to the house. But Otto said there was somebody he didn’t recognize parked on our road.”

“And you think it was him?”

She didn’t answer aloud, but he felt the motion of her nod. “Have you told Grant?” he asked.

“No! He’s the Sheriff, and I don’t want things to be weird between us.”

“You mean you think it would be awkward if the boy you like had to arrest the boy you used to like?” Adam asked, letting his voice slide into a higher register.

JJ smacked him, just as Evie burst through the front door. “Did you feed Trooper?” JJ asked.

Now it was Evie’s turn to roll her eyes, before banging back inside the house. JJ groaned theatrically as she stood, offering Adam a hand. He took it, rising more slowly than she had, trying to hide it when his head swam.

“You sure you’re okay?” JJ asked.

“Yeah. Listen, don’t you think it’ll get weirder between you and Grant if he hears about this from someone else first?” Adam asked. Still lightheaded, he clamped his mouth against the urge to pant for oxygen.

JJ’s eyes turned hard. “Who’s he going to hear it from? You?”

“Don’t be stupid!” Adam said, wrapping his arm around the tree to prop himself upright. “If you don’t want me to tell him, I won’t. But this is Cold Springs, not…”

His brain ground to a halt as he tried to maintain all necessary bodily functions and come up with the name of anyplace bigger than their town. Which would be pretty much anyplace in the country.

“Plattsville?” JJ joked. The next town over, it wasn’t exactly a booming metropolis. It was bigger than Cold Springs, and they’d invoked it ironically like New York City when they were kids.

Evie emerged from the house carrying a plastic novelty cup as if it were filled with liquid gold rather than dog food. The clatter of kibble into Trooper’s bowl (a former saucepan, now missing its handle) was somehow reassuring. Adam watched as the dog waited patiently for the eleven-year-old to step back, still clutching the cup the way a much younger child would. She looked up at Adam.

“Where’s your costume?” she asked.

They were going to the Volunteer Fire Department’s Trunk-or-Treat Halloween celebration. Halloween wasn’t until Monday, but the adults running things decided they’d much rather have the weekend to recover from the festivities.

“Was I supposed to wear a costume?” Adam asked, walking with Evie to JJ’s Bronco while she locked up the house.

“I am!” Evie said, unnecessarily. She wore jeans tucked into cowboy boots, a matching cowboy hat, a brown vest and red bandanna over a white button-down shirt, all topped off by a low-hanging, double holster and a shiny sheriff’s badge.

“Your mom didn’t dress up,” Adam pointed out. Both he and JJ were wearing jeans and flannel shirts over T-shirts, as did most people in Cold Springs this time of year.

Evie’s snort eerily echoed her mother’s. “She never does. But I thought at least you would.”

“It seems I’m forever disappointing the Tulley women,” Adam muttered.

JJ didn’t comment.