The heat of her hand on my shoulder, singeing my skin through my shirt, quickly faded as she turned and walked away, leaving me confused.
With rain coming quickly, I didn’t have time to dwell on what Murphy’s end game was. Or mine. I had enough to deal with when it came to work, Vermont, my family, and my life. Murphy was definitely a complication I didn’t need right now.
As I hurried over to my family’s booth, I decided to quickly give my mom her migraine medicine and get out of there before the real storm—the one that Murphy’s presence here seemed to put into motion—rolled in.
Thankfully, my mom was slammed with customers at her booth and didn’t have time to draw me into a long chat. Relief swept over me at Murphy bowing out of meeting my mom. If she hadn’t, Mom would have dug in, sinking her teeth into this discovery.
Oh, you’re Murphy, the girl he pined over every single summer and winter break.
I wasn’t sure what came over me to even consider taking Murphy to our booth. That’s what she did to me—she made me forget all common sense.
My dad told me when I left for school, “Get a good education, son. Do something with it. Be better than me, but don’t become one of them. The rich people. They may have money and all the fancy things, but they don’t have happiness. Watch and you’ll see.”
When I first arrived at Pressman, I thought he was wrong, but a few months in, I noticed most of my classmates were indeed not happy, no matter how much credit they had on their American Express card. I could barely afford a hamburger and fries with a shake on the rare occasion Murphy and I sneaked out together, but when I thought about my family, I smiled. Thinking of home, and the good times we had, always made me long to ditch Pressman, go back home, and just be happy.
Then again, I wouldn’t be where I was today had it not been for Pressman.
Which was why I felt so compelled to help Branson. My nephew didn’t have a dad to advise him or show him shit. Sometimes I worried he wasn’t happy or content. Maybe he was holding all his true feelings inside?
These were the type of thoughts that plagued me, which was why when my mom was busy, I decided to head over to Colebury and surprise him. Maybe he’d want to come spend the night with me, order in a pizza and watch baseball together.
Deep in thought as I drove, I almost missed the compact hunk-of-junk car parked at the curb in front of a duplex with a woman pacing next to it. Who the hell drove something like that in Vermont?
“Shit,” I mumbled, unable to drive by, the doctor inside me needing to make sure everyone was okay.
Pulling up in front of the older Toyota coupe, I shook my head. It was hardly the kind of car anyone would want during a Vermont rainstorm like this one, let alone in the winter.
I jumped out of my Jeep into the rain and was approaching the woman when I registered the flash of red hair. Murphy?
She hadn’t even noticed my car pulling up. She continued to pace, occasionally stomping her foot as she muttered to herself. I couldn’t imagine what could be that bad or distracting.
Not wanting to scare her, I cleared my throat to get her attention. Murphy finally looked up, startled, but her expression was fierce. Rain pelted down on her already sopping-wet clothes and began soaking through mine.
Glaring at me, she waved me off. “Ben, go away.”
“I can’t do that,” I said as I walked a step or two closer. “What’s wrong?”
“I just wanted to stand out here in the pouring rain, in my white shorts, and get drenched.” She spoke through gritted teeth, flailing her wet noodle of a sun hat in her hand. “It seemed like something super fun to do on a Saturday night. Now, seriously, just go because I’m getting soaked and the fun has worn off.”
“Are you serious? I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on. You show up out of the blue in Colebury, working at the Bean, and now you’re standing outside this run-down duplex getting rained on.”
At my words, her eyes caught fire, their bright emerald green a contrast to the rainy gray sky. “I’ll have you know this run-down duplex is where I live. I told you it’s not much, remember?”
Ashamed of myself, I swallowed the slightest bit of regret. I’d made her feel bad, and who was I to judge?
But I couldn’t help myself. This wasn’t how I pictured Murphy living her life. It was part of the reason I never allowed myself to think about having or keeping her. I’d always envisioned her living in a penthouse apartment, dressed in the finest clothes, dripping with expensive jewelry—something I firmly believed she wanted. It was a future I never imagined I’d be able to provide for her. Who knew I’d end up like I did?
I didn’t have time to wallow in all that past shit because Murphy whirled and stomped back toward the duplex, slamming her fist into one of the doors, the sound echoing all around us.
As she banged on the door again, I waited for her to look up at me. “Stop avoiding me,” I yelled through the rain, my hair soaked and my shirt dripping.
“What?” she barked as she turned toward me.
“What in God’s green earth are you doing?” I sounded like my mom, but I didn’t care. Some caveman instinct had taken over my body, and I needed to take care of this woman.
“Ben, listen. I
