“I’ll be here.” Actually, I’d be out there putting plants away. I picked up two boxes Jack had pointed out to me and walked out of the backroom and nearly right into Tig. “What the—”
“Sorry, Isaac,” he said, and attempted to grab me somewhere to help me but then he noticed the look on my face and backed the fuck off. “Sorry.”
I walked over to the plant area and started stocking while Jack stood near the front of the store wide-eyed and looking between the two of us. “Everything okay, Isaac?” he finally asked.
“Yep. Totally fine,” I answered without looking his way.
“Isaac, can we talk,” Tig said from behind me.
“Nope.”
“I’m not leaving. We obviously need to get along if we’re going to work together,” he said, and deep down I knew he was right, but I was a stubborn motherfucker and I wasn’t ready to talk to him.
“Then I guess you’ll be waiting a while.” Tig didn’t say anything, just walked out front of the store and plopped down in one of the rocking chairs that I now officially hated.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked.
“Nothing. He wants to talk, and I don’t. So, I won’t. If he wants to sit out there all damn day, he’s welcome to it.”
Jack’s lips pulled tight in a way I was very familiar with. He was done with my bullshit but didn’t want to deal with it. “Don’t start any shit here,” he said before walking toward the backroom and getting more plants. “You know you’re going to have to deal with him eventually.”
“Maybe,” I said, and for the next hour we focused on finding space for the plants and I avoided looking toward the stubborn man who was still out front.
Four
Tig
Since Isaac refused togive me the time of day I sat and rocked in one of the big rocking chairs in front of Nuts and Bolts. Hudson would laugh his ass off if he saw me out here, but right now I didn’t care. Isaac was stubborn. So fucking stubborn. AndI knew the only chance I had to fix this was dependent on getting him to talk to me. No matter how much he didn’t want to.
“Mind if I sit here?” Mr. Atkins asked. I’d known him when I lived here in high school, and I swear he pretty much looked the same as he had then. He had to be at least a hundred by now.
Without a word I waved my hand toward the chair and tried to tone down my mood.
“Thank you, son. I love walking but I need a rest now and then.” He shuffled around until he was able to plop down in the chair with a grunt followed by a deep sigh. “Now what’s got you looking like you’re ready to kick the shit out of the next poor unfortunate soul that passes your way?” he asked while balancing his cane on one hand and not even sparing me a glance.
“Sorry, Mr. Atkins. I guess mostly I’m mad at myself,” I admitted.
“Does it have anything to do with Isaac Grant?” he asked with a knowing look.
I matched that look and tried to hold his stare, but for some reason I couldn’t. “Yep,” was all I could manage.
“Must be love,” he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear right as Hudson came walking over from across the street.
“Mr. Atkins, I brought some pastries from the bakery. Would you like something?” he asked and offered him first pick from the box he held.
“Why thank you, Hudson, that’s very kind of you.” He sat back in the rocker and took a big bite of the brownie he’d chosen.
He then turned to face me with a smirk. “What’s going on, Tig?” he asked, like I sat in front of his hardware store every day.
“Just rocking,” I said and picked out an apple fritter. “Thanks for this, I haven’t eaten since lunch.”
“Just rocking,” he repeated, and closed the box of pastries. “Let me put this inside, I’ll be right back. Can I get either of you something to drink?”
“I’d love some water if you have it,” Mr. Atkins said, and Hudson nodded at him before hurrying inside. “He’s a good one.”
“He is.” Hudson was one of the best friends I had when I lived here, and he was one of the few that stayed in touch with me when I left. We’d both been anxious to leave the small town when we were young, and now here we were right back in it as adults.
“So, what’s going on between you and Isaac?” Hudson asked as he handed Mr. Atkins a bottle of cold water.
