9
INDI
Since Sparks was so small, Mrs. L and I only had to walk a few blocks to get to Landers Auto Shop. Buck had grown up with Lee, so I’d known him forever. He’d started working with his dad right after high school and had taken over the business a few years ago when his parents retired to Galveston, Texas, the beach and warm winters.
The short walk meant only a short amount of time for Mrs. L to ask me questions. She hid it under very skilled small talk, but I knew what was up. She’d learned about my latest guide trip, how my mother’s huckleberry jelly making was going, whether or not my father would start selling snow shovels before Labor Day this year, and lastly, if I wanted to stay with her until I felt safe again.
“I have too many men at the house these days. It was good to se
