Small Town Big Secrets by Dee Harris

Author:Dee Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: southern domestic fiction, contemporary small town mystery, women's fiction friendship and mothers and children, Mississippi humorous and satirical rumors and gossip, small town mystery and parody, LGBTQ coming out fiction, big little lies, general lgbtq fiction, men women relationships, high school theater churchgoers, religious humor, marriage family divorce
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing
Published: 2022-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

TWO HOURS LATER, BILL and Will came home empty-handed.

“Where’s the computer?” Krystal asked, watching Will shuffle upstairs, a dejected look on his face.

“Do you know how much laptops are? Will wants one that’s well above what we can afford.” Bill set his wallet on the kitchen counter. “I don’t mind getting him a new laptop, but he has to simplify his tastes.”

“He’s going to need a new one for college,” she insisted.

“He’ll get one.”

Bill walked away, marking the end of the conversation. At least, that’s probably what he thought.

But Krystal was ready to erupt. Not about the computer that Will should’ve gotten months earlier, but about everything else. She just couldn’t take another day living in a quiet house where everyone was desperate to scream.

She followed him into the office where he sat at his computer, clicking the mouse to turn it on.

“We need to talk, Bill.” She wasn’t going to tell him about the magazine she found or the relationship Will may or may not be having with another boy. That would probably send him over the edge, and she didn’t want him to attack Will about it. These were things she wanted to handle calmly and rationally.

“I’m busy.”

“No you’re not. You haven’t even gotten started on whatever it is you plan on doing—on a Sunday, by the way.” She had to throw that in there. Not only did he skip church, but he was also doing office work.

“How do you expect me to keep up with my caseloads if I don’t work on the weekends? You know I’m short-staffed.”

“I know, I know.” Krystal took a deep breath. “But you can’t go on pretending that we don’t have a problem, because we do. And I think I’ve found a way to fix it.”

Bill stopped typing and clicking. “Fix it?”

She shut the door quietly behind her. “I read about this place that works with young men and women who are experiencing the same thing as Will. A psychiatrist runs it. He uses therapy to help them understand where these attractions come from. And he cures them.”

Bill’s lips formed a straight line. She could almost feel his anger simmering.

“It’s called reparative therapy. I spoke to—”

“I thought you understood that we weren’t going to talk to anyone else about this,” he said, a slight tremor in his voice. “Isn’t it bad enough that the whole town knows?”

What would he say if he knew she was seeing Gertie about this? Krystal did everything she could to calm herself. Bill never talked about things he wanted to keep private because that way, they would stay small, hidden. In the end, however, those secrets became the biggest things of all. And that’s what she had to get him to understand.

“Sitting here doing nothing is not the answer. They’re experts, Bill. They can help our son.” She waited for him to respond for what seemed like an eternity.

He gnawed on his bottom lip, looking everywhere but at her. “Where is this place?”

“Out of state. Tennessee.”

She watched

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