Page 15

Kyland let go of my hand, looking truly insulted. “That’s not what I think.”

I made a sound of disgust and kept walking. I felt flushed all over and I was shaking, trying in vain to dismiss my deep sense of hurt and disappointment. “Well good, you shouldn’t. You don’t have anything every other man doesn’t have too, Kyland Barrett,” I called, and raced back toward the road and fast-walked all the way home. I had no idea if Kyland followed me or not and I told myself I didn’t care.

CHAPTER FIVE

Tenleigh

The following week, on a blustery Sunday, I walked with Marlo down the hill. She was headed to work and I was headed to the Dennville Library.

“Don’t stay long, okay?” Marlo said as we prepared to part ways.

“I won’t. I just need a few new books.” We tried our very best not to ever leave our mama alone for long in the trailer. Not that she would do something rash if she was taking her medication properly. But it was difficult to know if she was—we couldn’t exactly force it down her throat, and counting pills hadn’t worked. She knew well enough to hide the ones she wasn’t taking if she decided to go off her medication. But either way, our mama was what I guess you would call delicate. If she wasn’t sleeping, she didn’t care for being alone. Frankly, it was exhausting, but it was the hand we’d been dealt, and we did what we had to because we had no other choice.

I often wondered what it was like to have parents that cared for you, rather than the other way around.

As we stepped onto Main Street’s sidewalk, a man looking down at his phone was walking toward us. “Oh God, turn away!” Marlo hissed.

“Huh?”

Suddenly the man looked up. “I’m so sorry,” he said, brushing my shoulder and taking a big step to the left. “Oh, hey. Tenleigh, right?”

I swore I heard Marlo let out a small exasperated groan. “Yeah. Hi, Dr. Nolan?” I glanced at Marlo and she had a small, phony smile on her face. I hadn’t met Dr. Nolan before, but I had seen him and I knew he was a dentist who had set up a practice in Evansly. Apparently, he was here to save the Mountain Dew mouths of Appalachia—a valiant intention. Maybe he could brighten a few smiles. I couldn’t help but cringe every time I saw a baby sucking down a bottle full of pop. Needless to say, I cringed a lot. And evidently, most of his clients, if they could pay at all, paid in things like homemade moonshine. And yet, he was still here. And surprisingly sober.

The other thing I knew about Dr. Nolan was that Marlo had had a one-night stand with him a few months back when he’d come into Al’s for a Sunday afternoon beer.

And that she’d ignored him since. She was obviously how he knew my name.

“Call me Sam,” he said, glancing around me at Marlo. “Hi, Marlo. How are you?” he asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose. Frankly, he was adorable in a Clark Kent sort of way. His hair was parted too severely; he wore black-framed glasses and a shirt buttoned all the way up to his throat. But he was handsome despite all that, and he looked fit. I glanced at Marlo, raising my eyebrows.

“Hi, Sam. I’m good. How are you?” she said, giving him a big, bright smile that was completely fake.

If a man was capable of swooning, he did. “Uh, I’m good. I came by Al’s a couple times, but you weren’t working,” he said, his cheekbones flushing with color. Adorable.

I grinned over at Marlo.

“Oh. Sorry to hear I missed you, Sam. You must be busy with your practice.” Marlo was speaking slowly with exaggerated formality. I squinted my eyes, trying to get a better read on her face.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m swamped.” There was an awkward pause that he jumped in to fill. “You know tooth decay in Appalachia is a real epidemic.” He glanced back and forth between Marlo and me. “Of course, your teeth are beautiful. You must take good care of them. Oral health is so… You must floss well, which is great. It’s mostly the soda that’s the problem, though. Or pop as you call it here. And a bad diet, of course…” He grimaced as if he was pained by the conversation.

I held back a grin. “We’ve observed the problem. What you’re doing is very admirable.”

“Oh, no, I get more out of it than anyone. To see a twelve-year-old come into my office with a mouth full of rot and then send him walking out with a beautiful smile, well, it’s hard to explain that feeling. I have the ability to change someone’s life, you know?” His eyes brightened and his voice was filled with enthusiasm. “There’s nothing that compares to that.” Clearly he was passionate about his endeavor. Adorable.