Page 49 of Small Town Beast

Tanya looked around. “So this is your house…” She tried not to show she was impressed. It was very critical that he didn’t see how it affected her, seeing his money.

“That forest goes on for miles. I walk in there sometimes when I need to think,” he said.

“I wasn’t trying to think,” said Tanya bleakly.

“I understand.” Saverin cleared his throat. “I know that feeling, too.”

Tanya looked down into her coffee. “Can you give me some good news?”

It seemed to Tanya that Saverin hesitated, and changed his answer mid-thought. “I read this book calledRoots...”

“You didwhat?”

“I was not prepared.” He put her own book in her lap and she laughed against her will and in disbelief.

“You stole this from me, are you serious?”

“Do you really have work, sunshine?”

She stared into his eyes. No, she didn’t have work today, because petty-ass Kyle had reshuffled the schedule to cut her hours. And she still hadn’t heard back from the grocery store Ben Simpson had recommended. She also still didn’t have money for Faisal yet, and no means to get to Rowanville. Should she ask him to take her down there anyway? She already knew he would. Should she go to the playground where her baby disappeared, like she’d done over and over again? Wandering around like a mad lady, again. Turning over every stone and leaf for clues, again?

Tanya set the book down, feeling the strange connection she had to this man deepen. “I never thought you’d be so open minded.”

“Me neither. I used to believe…Well.” His neck turned pink again. “You get all these notions from the grown folks around you, and nothing ever happens in your life to prove different. You turn blind. On purpose. Just to stay comfortable. That’s all. Hell – I can’t explain it. ”

Tanya looked around at the great wooden house and frowned. “Saverin?”

“Mm?”

“You stay here all by yourself?”

“I do.”

“What do you do all day?”

“Sleep. Eat. Work out. When Fang – my dog– was still alive, I’d walk him.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t work or nothing like that. I ain’t worked since– since two years ago.”

“What happened two years ago?”

“Lots of things changed,” he said vaguely.Hint taken.She backed off the subject, searching for a new one.

“Thank you for the money, by the way,” she said.

“I believe we had a deal.” He turned over a coal in the fire. “Didn’t we?”

“We did. I didn’t forget. But you scared me, breaking into my house like that. You didn’t have to do that at all.”

He rubbed his thumb into a worn hole in his jeans. “My head ain’t on straight as far as you’re concerned. I am sorry.”He looked at her sideways. “Do you really have work today?”

She didn’t, actually. Petty-ass Kyle had cut her hours. And she still hadn’t heard back from the job at the grocery store Ben Simpson had told her about. She had the money for Faisal now, thanks to Saverin, but getting to Rowanville was another story. Should she ask Saverin for a ride down the mountain?

“I have to go to Rowanville today,” she began tentatively.

“I’m headed there myself. Around noon.” He checked his millionaire’s watch, but Tanya knew they had about three hours until then. “Can you hang?” he asked.

She thought about it. Faisal would still be there in three hours. And even if she paid the private investigator the money right this minute, she had serious doubts he would jump right on her case.

What if those three hours make all the difference? What if you don’t go now, and they never find him?Every decision seemed to be the wrong one.

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