Page 32 of Sycamore Circle

Every time she came in, she took a booth, ordered a vanilla malt, and chatted with him when he brought it over. All in all, their conversations weren’t much and didn’t last very long.

But it didn’t matter to him what they said. All that mattered was that she was like nothing he’d ever seen, and he lived for her smiles.

Half an hour later, when he walked into the diner, he scanned the area, didn’t see Chloe, and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t missed her.

“Hey, Finn,” Aunt Mary said from the back counter, where she was filling saltshakers.

“Hiya, Mary.” He walked over to her with a smile. “Would you like me to do that for ya?”

“Nee. I’d rather hear about you.” She lowered her voice. “Did leaving go okay today?”

He raised a shoulder. “Well enough.”

“I don’t know what we should do about your father. More than one person has shared that he seems to be fading more and more into his own world.”

Though it still felt strange to confide in someone about his home life, Finn’s aunt was helping him learn that talking about it helped. He was no longer carrying quite as much of the burden. “It seems like that to me too. Mamm is okay with it, though.” In some ways, his mother seemed to be relieved about his father’s confusion. She was able to take care of the house and the bills without him interfering.

Mary set the large container of salt on the counter. “Do you worry about your siblings, Finn?”

“Nee. He is gentle with them.”

“Just not with you.”

“Aunt Mary, you know that ain’t nothing new.” Finn wasn’t sure why his father didn’t like him, but he’d long given up trying to figure it out. Knowing the reason wouldn’t change his circumstances.

“I know.” Mary darted a look toward one of the booths, seemed to make up her mind, and then stepped closer to him. “Finn, there’s a pair of men here. They’re good men. One of them is Seth Troyer. Do you know him? He jumped the fence a while back.”

“I know who Seth is.” Everyone knew he hadn’t so much as jumped as gotten kicked out of his house. Not long after, he’d gone to prison. Now he was English but had a lot of friends in the community. He was always helping out one family or another.

“Well, I want you to go talk with Seth and the other man.”

“Why?”

“I talked to them the other day about you. They work with a lot of men who’ve just gotten out of prison.”

He inhaled sharply.

She held up her hand. “I know, I know, that ain’t you. But... you are a man in need, and they might be able to help you make some connections for when you do decide to jump the fence.”

He glanced over at them again and started when he caught a pair of blue eyes staring directly back at him.

“You ready?”

“You mean, right now?”

“There’s no time like the present, Finn. Ain’t it so?” Before he could answer, she tilted her head. “Come on. I’ll take you over.”

He followed, feeling a combination of nervousness and hope. Both men looked up at him when he and Mary stood at the end of the booth.

“Seth, Bo, this here is Finn, the boy I’ve been telling you about.”

Finn stuffed his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t do something stupid like wave to them. “Hey.”

Bo lifted his chin. Seth, on the other hand, motioned for him to join them. “Good to meet you, Finn. Mary’s been telling us a lot about you.”

The men were sitting across from each other. Though there didn’t look like a ton of room on either side, he sat next to Seth. “Mary told me about you, as well.”

“What have you heard?” Bo asked.

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