Page 10 of Sawyer

She shakes her head, standing up to help with the groceries. “Went up to the Walmart in Whitehorse with your dad.”

“I was just telling Reeve we need to do the same.”

“IGA getting empty?”

“It’s thinning out, for sure.”

As Gran and Paw-Paw start emptying the bags, Reeve and I head back to the truck to bring in the rest.

“You gonna tell me what’s eating you?” Reeve asks.

“What’s eating Sawyer?”

I look up to see Parker standing at the foot of the lodge steps. She’s holding my dad’s toolbox, and there are smudges of oil on her face.

“Nothing,” I grunt.

“He’s in a mood,” says Reeve.

“Shut up, Reeve.”

Parker follows me and Reeve to the back of my truck and hefts herself onto the liftgate, spreading out her arms to block the remaining groceries.

“Move it,” I tell her. “Gran’ll have your head if her ice cream melts.”

“Then you’d best tell us what’s wrong.” She glances over her shoulder at the ice cream, then back at me. “And quick.”

Parker is only one year older than me and Reeve is three years younger, but boy, oh, boy are they busybodies. And their favorite object of harassment? Yours truly. One on one, I can deal with them. But when they gang up on me together? They’re a force to be reckoned with. My older brothers and sister have no idea what a communal terror they can be.

There’s no point in fighting them. If I don’t tell them what’s going on, they’ll bug me every chance they get until they have their answers.

“It’s nothing!” I mutter. “I ran into Ivy Caswell at the IGA. That’s all.”

Parker stares at me for a second, furrowing her brows. “Ivy only comes down in the summer.”

“That’s what I thought,” I say. “Guess we were both wrong. Now, shove over.”

Instead, Parker reaches behind for the bags, handing two to me and two to Reeve before hopping down.

“Why’s she back?” asks Reeve. “I thought she went to college up north.”

“She graduated in May,” I say, preceding them back into the lodge.Why do I know that? Why the hell do I keep tabs on her?“She was supposed to start a job in Juneau this fall, but… Did you know that Priscilla Caswell is sick?”

“Priscilla is sick?” asks Gran, who meets us at the kitchen door, holding it open for me and Reeve.

“She’s got cancer,” I say.

Gran takes the two bags I’m holding. “Gosh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I was, too.”

“Good of Ivy to come and help,” says Gran with a knowing smile.

“So good,” purrs Reeve, all sassy.

So good!Parker mouths, pantomiming a blowjob as she follows Gran and Reeve to the kitchen to help sort the rest of the groceries.

Right this second, I could strangle all three of them.

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