Page 10 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

“Did you even call?”

“No! Whoever has my hat probably doesn’t even realize it’s not theirs. And they probably got this one at some consignment store like I did with my coat, and they’re not the murderer, and they’d think I was a lunatic for asking about it. I’m sorry, babe, really, I am. I don’t want this either.”

“Where’s the number for the restaurant?” Without getting up, Maisey pointed to the gift bag sitting by the door.

Aaron cleared the room in three strides, prowled through the bag’s contents, and pulled out the brochure, then held it up. “This it?” Maisey nodded, and she watched as Aaron pulled out his phone. “Yes, hello. My name is Deputy SheriffAaron Friedman. My wife was there earlier today with some friends and she picked up the wrong hat by mistake on her way out. Have you had anybody… Red. Wide-brimmed. Otherwise… Sure. I’ll hold.” He didn’t even turn to look at Maisey as he waited, and she felt sad and alone. He was angry, but it wasn’t her fault. None of it had been done on purpose. Hell, neither had the first two. She was jolted from her thoughts when she heard him say, “Oh? Okay. Well, if they do come in looking for it, could you please give them my name and number and ask them to call me? We’ll swap out with them. It’s…”

As he rattled off his name and number, Maisey shut down. Why did it keep happening to her? Why didn’t these dead people find somebody else to reveal themselves to? She didn’t really want that responsibility, and she certainly didn’t want the danger it had led her into. Engrossed in her thoughts, she finally looked up to find Aaron standing there, looking down at her. “Okay. They’ll call me if somebody shows up looking for the hat.”

Maisey didn’t know what to say, so she just whispered, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” In a few seconds, he sat back down on the sofa beside her, took another draw off his bottle, and sighed. “I suppose you’re going to want to pursue this.”

“Somebody died, Aaron. That’s important. I feel like if I can help, I?”

“You have to. I get it. But you don’t even know where it took place.”

“I know. I don’t know where to start. There’s only one way to find out.”

Aaron side-eyed her. “Yeah. I know.”

“But not tonight, please? I’m exhausted.”

Aaron nodded. “Yeah, you are. You need to get some sleep. And babe?”

Maisey couldn’t even look up at him. “Yeah?’

“I love you. No matter what, we’ll put this to bed. Everything will be okay.”

There was no holding back. Maisey sobbed, and she was relieved when Aaron’s arms wrapped tightly around her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

“I know, baby. I know. None of this is your fault, and I know it. It’s just frustrating, that’s all. I hate what it does to you, but I know you don’t invite it. It’ll be okay. We’ll make it through. And from now on, if it can be taken off your body in public, put your name in it, okay?”

Maisey let out a little chuckle through her sobs. “Yeah. Got it. Don’t worry. It’ll never happen again.”

“Never say never. Never’s a long time.”

Aaron was right. If there was anything Maisey had learned, it was to never say never.

Sunday was long and hard, and in none of the good ways. There was plenty of laundry, and Aaron mowed the grass. Maisey scrubbed the bathrooms, cleaned out the refrigerator, and mopped the kitchen floor. When all of that was done, they went to the store, bought some groceries for the next week, and stopped for burgers so no one had to cook.

It took thirty minutes to help Murielle pick out clothes for school the next day, primarily because she kept saying, “I just wore that. I don’t want to wear it again.”

“No, you wore it week before last,” Maisey told her.

“No. I wore it two days ago.” She hadn’t, but Maisey knew there was no point in arguing with her. She was a kid and, as such, had zero perception of time. “I want a new skirt. One of those flowy things with pockets.” Maisey had no idea what she was talking about. “And a shirt with kittens on it.”Well, glad you’re not terribly specific, Maisey told herself as she thought about what that ensemble would look like. Dreadful.

“Well, we can’t do anything about that tonight. You’ll just have to wear something else tomorrow.”

“But when I get out of school, can we go get them? The kitten shirt and the poofy skirt?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll try, okay? What about this?” Maisey held up a top that was pink and blue striped.

Murielle huffed. “Well, okay. And these pants.” She reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of orange pants.

“Oh, I don’t think so. How about these?” Maisey found a pair of denim capris in the closet and held them up with the shirt. “This is nice.”

“Basic,” Murielle declared the outfit with a frown.Where the hell does she come up with this stuff, Maisey asked herself. Finally, the little girl nodded. “Okay. For now. But I’ve got to step up my fashion game.”

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