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Chapter 1

Brody

“Well, as I live and breathe Is that you, Brody Tannen? I haven’t seen you in ages, boy!”

Mrs Perkinson squints her rheue It’s not that she’s unkind, but she’s at least the fifth person to tellthis afternoon alone You’d think I hide out on the ranch and never see the light of day in town Thereit out left and right all damn day

“Good afternoon, ma’am” It’s the bare minimum of words to not be accused of rudeness I’d know because I’ve tested it over the years My preference was a simple ‘hello’, one word and done, but apparently, thatass and didn’tood fill-in-the-blank’ and ‘one with

So far, so good And I’h-demand seasonal treats, not only for the day, but for the entire week No more pies, no more jellies and jams, no more soaps, and best of all, no more people I can’t wait to not have to people Yes, that’s a verb, because again, it’s simpler to say ‘people’ than ‘I don’t prefer to socialize, thank you very much’ because who needs all those useless words when one will get the sae across just fine?

“Get your hiney on into my kitchen and let me feed you Skin and bones, you are!” Mrs Perkinson’s bony finger juts out, poking at the thick slab of muscle on my chest

Great She’s obviously gone blind as a bat if she thinks I’—too tall, too broad, too brooding, too asshole, with a reputation of kicking ass first and asking questions never I’ive a shit with consequences unless they affect my family

“As much as I’d like that, ma’am, Shayanne would have my hide,” I say with as iven that I’at my lip with my thumb as the lie passes between them “I’m on her schedule, you see”

She takes the jar of le the end of this conversation Or at least I hope it does, but I’ve still got to say polite goodbyes and whatnot or she’ll be tattling on me to Shay for sure

“Well, that girl works her tailfeathers off, so I won’t begrudge her requiring the same of you lot Only way to keep you hellions in check is a firot one” Sweet Mrs Perkinson becoer willing to uphold niceties when she’s insulting me and my brothers, even if she is one of Shay’s customers

Without sowords when I don’t have to, I turn and shuffle down the two steps of her porch I climb into our old farm truck and peel out of her driveway She probably thinks I just proved her point, that I’m a rude motherfucker with no proper manners despite my poor sister’s attempts to housebreak me, but I don’t care

If anything, I raised Shayanne, not the other way around Little thing was just thirteen when Mom passed She took over that role without a fuss, but she needed so up, and that responsibility fell to me as the man of the house, because Dad sure as hell wasn’t

Not that I’ of him

May the Devil hi on his soul down in hell

I hear Moh heavily as the speedometer creeps up to sixty on the old country road “Fine, Mo comfortably in hell, does that work for you? Because we both know he ain’t up there with you When you were here, one that way But you knoas later, so don’t be rewriting history now because it’s rude to speak ill of the dead”

I turn the radio up to drown out the voices in my head I don’t hear them very often any okay and definitely not Dad’s harsh bites that I’ht in some ways

But the growl of the old diesel engine drowns the through the openAlong with any preconceived notions Mrs Perkinson has

For a moment, I’m free