Page 3 of Peach

"I'm Peach, by the way."

Her head whipped up, and her lips turned down in a frown. "Their son's name is Robert. Who are you?"

He shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, my name is Robert, but everyone calls me Peach.”

“That’s dumb.”

A chuckle escaped his lips, and then guilt wiped the humor away. His parents were dead. He was handling this all wrong.

Peach sat in the kitchen chair at the end of the table and tried for a relaxed position that would show her he wasn’t a threat. “What is your name?”

She picked up a napkin and swiped at her tears before her eyes narrowed. The woman wasn't wearing makeup, atleast not eye makeup. She might have lipstick on or not. He wasn't sure. She had a few freckles, but not many. Her eyes were a pale shade of blue, with just a little green on the edge of the outside of each iris. She looked interesting, for sure. But that wasn't why he was here.

He had five days. Exhaustion from not sleeping much on the red-eye combined with hunger, almost taking him down. Now he had to deal with this stranger who he should have tossed out on her rear, but something told him to listen to her story and find out why his parents would allow a stranger to stay in their house while they weren’t around.

Chapter 2

Haisley Beale hadno idea how to get herself out of this mess. John and Ellen had taken her in, given her a place to stay, and promised to help her. Now they were gone. She would have to leave, but she had no place to go.

Why had she stayed in this area? She should have run so far that there would be no chance any of them would find out.

“Your name. You still haven’t told me your name.”

Haisley stared at Robert, thinking he wasn’t anything like his parents. Her worry increased. No way would he believe that John and Ellen wanted her to stay. Now they were gone, and she had nowhere to go.

“Haisley,” she choked out, not wanting to give her last name just in case he did something stupid like post it online or something. Maybe some people knew where she was staying, but she’d been careful.

“How long have you been living in my parents’ house?”

“I moved in three months ago.”

“When did they leave?”

“A little over a week ago. They were supposed to be home soon. I hadn't heard from them in a few days, though.” Haisley stared into Robert’s eyes, wondering if she would ever find peace again. “Are they really gone?”

He nodded. “I’m afraid so. I received a call two days ago. I wasn’t going to come out and do this yet, but I need to get this taken care of. I’m just here for five days. I was planning on having a celebration of life service at the Baptist church.”

Panic made her reach out and grab onto his arm. “No. Not that church. They quit. It’s been a thing.”

“Wait. When did they stop going to that church?”

“A few months ago. They’re over at the church on Fifth Street."

His eyes went wide. “What? They left the church they’ve been attending since before I was born?” He shook his head like he didn’t believe a word of what she’d said.

"Yeah. If you look at their checkbook, you'll see that they've been writing out checks to that church and not the Baptist."

Peach's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe her. "Why did they leave the church? They said they would never leave that place. They'd talked about how the church was their home. They wouldn't leave. What the hell happened?"

She didn't want to tell him everything. The story was a twisted mess that could only get her in trouble if it got out. The truth had been why she'd moved in with Ellen and John. When they'd heard the awful story, they called the pastor out, telling him he was a terrible person. Then, Ellen insisted she live with them.

Though she knew everything because it happened to her, she shrugged like she had no clue. Robert’s eyes narrowed a tiny amount, and she knew he didn’t believeher. She wasn’t really lying, just omitting all the disgusting facts.

If Robert went to talk to the pastor, the man would paint her in a terrible light. She had to tell him the truth, but fear kept her from speaking out. Just the thought of telling him what had happened made her sick to her stomach.

“Where are you staying while you’re here?” Haisley asked.

His eyebrows shot up. “In my room.”

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