Page 15 of Old Habits

She walks off, taking her bright and happy aura with her. She’s not the first person to wander into the toy store since I got here and ask questions. She probably won’t be the last, either. In Clover, your business is everyone’s business. Always has been.

I glance at the fliers once before shoving them onto a pile beneath the register.

I stick to the back shelves, taking my time getting the spacing just right between the action figures. One doesn’t merely toss the toys onto the shelf. You must face everything the right way, too. No wonder Mr. Tran hired me back so fast. Whoever the old smock girl was, she did a horrible job.

I hear the entry bell toward the front and let out an immediate “Hello!” like a Pavlovian dog. Two tiny feet patter down the front aisles, bolting straight for the soldier toys and fighter jet models. I cringe. I just straightened those…

I stand up and turn around to head back to the counter but nearly crash into someone as I round the corner.

“Sorry! Excuse me—”

“Careful, Jove.”

I hop backward, feeling all the color drain from my face. My eyes stay locked on the floor between us. It’s impossible for that voice to belong to anyone else but I’m not sure if that makes me more excited or terrified.

I’ve imagined what this moment would be like so many times. I knew that if I came home, it’d happen eventually. I’d be lying if I said a part of me wasn’t looking forward to it but I still wanted to delay it for as long as possible. The news of my arrival would get back to him sooner or later. This town isn’t that big.

I finally look up as excitement wins out.

“Will,” I say.

He towers over me by over half a foot, just like he always did. Will Myers. One look in his eyes knocks the wind out of me. So much has changed but he’s still the exact same. His jeans don’t have patches sewn into them. His brown hair isn’t greased back and overgrown. His shirt isn’t telling me to go fuck myself.

My bad boy grew up.

But his smirk is still there.

“Hi, Jovie,” he says.

“What, uh… What are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ask you the exact same thing.”

I chuckle at the floor. “Yeah, I bet.”

“Stopped in to do a little shopping, actually,” he says.

“For who?”

Will points over my shoulder and I turn around to see a little boy playing with the toy soldiers in the far corner.

One look at him and my chest aches. I guess it doesn’t get more grown up than this…

“Wow,” I say, turning back. “You’ve been awfully busy.”

“He’s not mine,” he says. “He’s my nephew.”

“Oh…” I look at the boy again and heave a secret sigh of relief. “Sarahad a kid?”

“She did, yeah.”

“What’s she up to now?”

“She’s in nursing school,” he answers. “Her schedule gets pretty hectic on Wednesdays, so I take the kid.”

I nod along with his voice. “And today is Wednesday...”

“His dad, Charlie, isn’t around much. I try to help her out when I can.”

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