“Don’t even think about it. You’re going to wear yourself out.”
“Dad used to work seven days sometimes.”
She became quiet.
Mentioning my father always did that to her.
Not exactly sadness.
More like she’d heard a familiar voice calling from somewhere very far away.
“Your father,” she finally said, “was the most stubborn man I ever knew. He never understood when it was time to rest.”
“I remember.”
“And you’ve inherited every bit of that stubbornness.”
“I know that too.”
She smiled and reached across the table to squeeze my fingers.
Her hands were cold, as they always were first thing in the morning.
“Go to work before you’re late. And take a banana. You never eat properly.”
I took one.
Naturally, I didn’t eat it.
It spent the entire day on my passenger seat, gradually turning brown.
My car was an aging 2009 Honda with a cracked windshield and a check-engine light that had been illuminated for so long I’d stopped noticing it.
That morning, the engine made a worrying grinding sound when I turned the key.
“Please,” I whispered to the dashboard. “Not today.”
The engine finally started on the third attempt.
I patted the dashboard gratefully.
As I drove, I did what I was always doing.
Calculating.
The electric bill.
Groceries.
Mom’s prescriptions.
Car insurance.
Whatever repair the Honda would soon need.
My next paycheck wouldn’t arrive until Thursday.
And according to my banking app, I had exactly sixty-one dollars available.
I had checked twice.
Millbrook isn’t a large place.
We have one traffic light, two churches, a hardware store, and a diner called Patty’s that’s been serving the same Tuesday meatloaf special for decades.
And there’s Hollis Market.
I’ve worked there for six years.
When you’re a cashier in a town like ours, you learn more about people’s lives than they probably realize.
You notice when a regular customer stops buying her favorite ice cream.
You notice when someone suddenly switches to the cheapest groceries.
You learn who has a new baby, who’s lost a job, and who seems to be carrying a burden they don’t want to discuss.
Sometimes you know things without anyone saying a word.
I arrived at work just before seven.
Lori was already there.
