Page 10 of As It Was (Strawberry Springs #1)

CAIN

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Tammy Jane

I’m closing up the diner early today, just so y’all know.

Comments:

Hu Gh : Better not be during my coffee time!!!!

Tammy Jane : Sorry, Hugh.

Hu Gh : You’d better explain yerself right now!!!

Jade Clark : Someone’s feisty today.

Tammy Jane : Now listen here, old man, I don’t have to tell you a darn thing.

Kerry Winsor : Something I should know about @Tammy Jane ?

Kerry Winsor : @Tammy Jane ???

When I finally got dressed the next morning, the last thing I expected was to walk out of my room and fall on a fucking marble .

“Shi—Eric! What did I say about marbles in the hallway?”

“Mollie said it was okay!” He wasn’t worried about me. I’d fallen many times before, which was why I had banned marbles in the first place.

My eyes shot to his room. His run was aimed right out the door, dropping marbles onto the wooden planks. Most of them ended up a few feet outside of my room.

Mollie was close to him, kneeling on the floor. Her hands paused as she added another part to the run.

She seemed lost in a stupor, but once she registered that I was now glaring at her, she turned to Eric. “Did you have to throw me under the bus like that?”

My molars clenched. It was too early in the morning for this.

Eric only had one adult. Me. But in my reading, I knew he was at an age where he’d try to break the rules by asking another authority figure to do things to see if he’d get a different answer. So far, he hadn’t had that option.

“First of all, Mollie doesn’t get to make any decisions regarding you. Got it?”

“But she’s an adult. And she lives with us.”

“She’s not your guardian. I am.”

“Guardian?” she asked.

“Yes. Eric’s my nephew.”

She slowly muttered, “That explains the two totally different personalities.”

Eric smiled at her like she was the sun itself. “I’m the nice one.”

“ No ,” I said. “You two are not forming a friendship.”

“Ms. Rudder says it’s good to have friends,” Eric challenged.

“ Other friends. Not ... this one.”

“For your information,” Mollie added, “I’m a great friend.”

“And I’m already friends with her.” Eric narrowed his eyes at me. Since when did he have sass with me? Was this Mollie’s bad influence?

“But,” Mollie started. “As much as it pains me to admit it, we should be safe. What if we shot the marbles somewhere else?”

I blinked. She was backing me up?

“Out the window?” Eric asked.

“And then if they end up in the yard when I mow?” I countered.

“We could just set it up in Cain’s room next time and shoot the marbles the other way.”

I turned to her so quickly that I almost got whiplash. “N?—”

“Yes!” Eric yelled, and he was already grabbing the run and moving it.

“Really?” I asked.

“Technically, if they go into his room, he has to face the consequences.” She smiled and tilted her head to the side, revealing the smooth expanse of her neck.

I averted my eyes immediately. “Sleep in longer next time,” I said, swiveling on my heel and walking out the door.

The animals needed their morning feed, and I didn’t need to look at her.

She was a thorn in my side. A gorgeous fucking thorn.

She’d been in one of those fancy button-up sleep sets, but the buttons were undone down to the middle of her chest. That and her smile were burned into my memory, but I pushed them away.

I didn’t need lust on top of all the other shit with her.

My head felt screwed on better once I was done with the morning routine. Hennifer was kind today, and she got extra treats for not being the most annoying woman this morning. Even Moosley gave me a wide berth as I loaded up the cows with more hay.

When I got back, I worked on scrambled eggs and toast.

Mollie meandered into the kitchen around seven thirty. She’d changed into some name-brand leggings Jackie had always wanted. The fruit-named ones.

And now her fucking hair was up. Jesus.

She had a laptop in her hands and sat at the dining-room table, which was one room away, still giving me a line of sight to her. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have the urge to talk, but after a few minutes, I felt her eyes on me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just figuring out what work you do every day.”

“I’m not working right now, I’m cooking breakfast. Have you ever done it?”

“Very funny. Yes. I usually cook it on weekends.”

“And weekdays?”

“I ... have a protein shake.”

I shook my head and plated the food. “Eric! Time for breakfast!”

He came running down the stairs and grabbed the plate out of my hands. He wasted no time digging in.

“So, how does grocery sharing work around here?”

“You buy yours. I buy mine. Except for the eggs.”

“Why’s that an exception?”

“They’re technically yours.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve never had farm fresh ... anything. Not in years, at least.”

I hadn’t bought eggs from the store since I was sixteen.

She stood and walked into the kitchen, eyes roaming over the counters. She was now within a foot of me, and fuck . She smelled like lavender and vanilla. Just like the candle she’d almost broken.

I jerked back.

“Food!” Eric yelled, pulling me out of her orbit.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, filling his plate again.

He worked on his second round of breakfast while Mollie grabbed the old Folger’s tub. “That’s ...”

“I’ll pay you back. Can you be nice this once and show me where the pot is?”

“Chicken grounds,” I finished.

“They’re what ?”

“They’re old coffee grounds from the diner near here. It’s for the chickens to poop on.”

She slammed the container on the counter. “ Poop coffee? ”

“They haven’t pooped in it yet . I haven’t taken it out to the coop.”

She looked bewildered for all of a second before she restrained herself. “Do you have regular coffee?”

“Nope.”

She let out a near cry. “Why?”

“Don’t need it.”

“That’s so unfair,” she grumbled and turned around. “Do you have Papa Bennie’s coffee pot at the very least?”

“In the closet.”

“All right, that’s another thing on my list to do. Get that working. I didn’t know people tortured themselves out here.”

I eyed her up and down. No matter how many fucking times she opened her mouth and said something that pissed me off, I still found her fucking beautiful.

“Princess.” I let my disdain slip into my voice. “You have no idea.”

By the time Eric was loaded in the car, I knew there was no way Mollie would be unnoticeable in the house. Partially because Eric wanted to tell her every single part of his last two days of school up until we left. She listened with rapt attention while I wished she would vanish into thin air.

Whatever peace I’d had in the farmhouse was gone. She would be filling the space with her annoyingly bright smiles and happy voice.

“I want to show Mollie Hennifer. And Moosley!” Eric was saying as we got to the school. All he could talk about was her.

I didn’t blame him. All I could think about was her.

“She might be nice, but it doesn’t mean she’s gonna love everything we do.”

“Who doesn’t love animals?”

“Some people don’t.”

Eric hummed. “I don’t think she’s like that.”

We didn’t know anything about her. Only that Bennie had liked her. But that had been over a decade ago. She had obviously changed since then.

I still walked Eric to class, even though I had a mountain of things to do at home. He gripped my hand tightly each time, but he was getting better and better about letting go when he saw his table.

“Morning, Eric,” Ms. Rudder said. “How are you feeling?”

“Good!” he said, high-fiving her. “Hey, Tommy!”

And that was another thing. Every day, he ran to the boy who was quickly becoming his first friend.

Ms. Rudder turned to another kid, and I watched Eric, debating if he needed anything else from me.

Was I stalling so I didn’t have to go back home to Mollie?

Yes.

“They’re becoming best friends,” a voice said.

My heart sank when I turned to see Kerry. This was not what I needed today.

“Of course they are,” I muttered .

“Someone’s in a bad mood. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”

More like I woke up with the wrong person in my damn house.

“No,” I replied. “I’m fine.”

Kerry hummed, and I wondered if she was using her powers of deduction to see straight into my soul.

I hadn’t realized it until I was here, but Mollie being in town was going to be a massive story, especially once people found out where she was staying.

Fuck.

Once again, I would be in the news cycle. It had been bad enough when I’d gone after Donny and when I’d taken in Eric.

I couldn’t take it again.

“I should get going,” I said. “I have a lot to do.”

She slowly nodded, her eyes still on me, and I ran out the door.

I hadn’t even told Jackie yet. Much less the town. All I’d been focusing on was the woman in my house and the fact that my nephew had just started school.

But I was still avoiding home, so I checked the mirror in my truck and realized I could use a trim.

I changed course and headed for the town square, hoping that a refresh and some advice could get me out of this hole I’d fallen in.

Jackie was usually busy, but I must have caught her between clients. She was sitting in her chair, reading a magazine.

“Cain,” she greeted. “Are you here to fill my free spot?”

“Yeah. Need a trim.”

Her lips twisted. “Four words, huh? What’s got you in a bad mood? Did Kerry try to talk to you? I heard Eric and Tommy are getting along.”

Jackie knew I didn’t like Kerry’s gossip, and she had her own issues with it as well.

She was a lifetime resident of the town, and had no problems with the smaller day-to-day things people talked about, but sometimes everyone went too far.

Like they had with me. Like they could have with her if they knew her whole story.

“She did, but that’s not even the half of it.” I sat in the chair and Jackie put a protector over my shirt. “What do you remember of Bennie’s family?”

She paused, her smile slipping from her face.

“Bennie was the best of them. His daughter was ... Well, she was smart. Sometimes thought she was smarter than us. Left right when she turned eighteen. And he didn’t have any other kids.

His granddaughter, though, was sweet. I think her name was . ..” She trailed off.

“Mollie,” I supplied. “It was Mollie, wasn’t it?”

“Yep.” She nodded as she worked. “Bennie talked about her a lot, didn’t he? Oh, he loved that little girl. And she loved him, but then her mom got all worked up about how much time she spent here and then she vanished. Now, why do you ask? Are you trying to get in contact with them again?”

“No,” I said. “It’s the other way around, actually.”

Jackie’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“Mollie was left the farm. She’s ... back.”

“What? Why?”

“To check in? To make changes? No fucking clue. But she’s mad that I wasn’t able to do the strawberries, just like everyone else was?—”

“You’re one person,” she said shortly. “You did what you could. If Mollie wants the berries back, then she can do it herself.”

I laughed. “I doubt she’ll do that. She has no idea what she’s doing. She didn’t even know the farm turned a profit.”

“So, why now?”

“No idea, but she’s staying at the farmhouse.” I let out a harsh sigh. “It’s awful.”

Jackie completely stopped cutting my hair, and that’s how I knew she was well and truly shocked.

“Do you wanna stay with me? Both you and Eric are welcome.”

Still to this day, it baffled me when she offered help.

When I had been struggling with running the entire farm myself, she’d worked on the berries as long as she could.

And when I took custody of Eric, she’d bought every single thing I’d needed for him and refused any money from me to pay her back.

“No,” I said. “But thank you. I’ll handle it.”

“And what does that mean?”

“Mostly hope she gets over whatever made her come out here.”

“If it gets to be too much, let Eric come and stay with me. The last thing he needs is to have drama at home right now.”

“That’s unfortunately not a problem. He loves her.”

“What?”

“She was up early playing marbles with him.”

“Interesting.” Jackie slowly returned to cutting my hair. “So, she’s nice?”

“Too nice.”

She hummed. “I wonder what she looks like after all these years.”

Like an angel sent to fucking destroy me.

But then I caught the pensive look on Jackie’s face. “ No ,” I said. “Don’t even go there.”

“Sorry.” She shrugged. “Just thinking of all the possibilities.”

“That’s not one of them.”

Jackie nodded and finished my haircut, but her smile never waned.

And I knew I’d never hear the end of it.