Hitting the Wall: A Stonecut County Romance by Cate C. Wells

Author:Cate C. Wells [Wells, Cate C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

We have lunch at the Over Easy. Carl is still the cook, but except for surly Miss Denise, none of the waitstaff is the same from when I worked there. The customers haven’t changed. Almost seven years later, and they’re still sitting in the same booths.

Carl and Denise drop by our table to say hi and offer belated condolences for Grandpa—and gawk at Mia and Kellum. Once they come over, the dam bursts, and by the time Kellum pays the check, almost everyone in the place has come over to be introduced.

A lot of folks knew Grandpa, and they have nice things to say. I get a little choked up. Mia has no memories of him. I like that she’s hearing nice things about him.

After lunch, the temperature climbs even higher, so even though the school is walking distance, Kellum drives us in the back of his cruiser. There’s something going on—folding tables and lots of kids in the soccer field, and there’s no parking in the front lot.

Kellum drops us off and says he’ll find a space and meet us inside.

I wish he’d ignore the color of the curb and park right in front. It’s a police cruiser. No one would blink an eye.

I don’t want to walk in alone.

I smooth my ponytail. Hairs have sprung loose, but it’s not too bad. I ducked into the bathroom and checked before we left the diner.

I straighten my spine, take Mia’s hand, and head on in. This is going to be different. Stonecut Elementary is not Back River.

Back River was one story, the kind of school with painted cinder block walls and dusty tile floors.

Stonecut Elementary looks like what you picture when someone says school: two story, red brick, big windows, stairs leading up to double doors, and a tall flagpole out front in a bed of red, white, and blue petunias.

You do have to buzz and state your business before they let you in. Other than that, it feels like the 1950s.

Inside, everything is perfect. It’s clean, cool, and smells like crayons.

Mia takes it all in. There’s a bulletin board with a bunch of horses for decoration. Mia tugs my hand.

“I see it.”

Even though it’s still summer, the floors are waxed to a shine.

I go into the office, and I get instant déjà vu. It’s set up exactly like the office in the high school I went to for those few months, down to the polished wood counter and wall of teacher mailboxes.

A large woman in mint green slacks is at her desk, squinting at her computer monitor.

I stand and wait. There’s a shiny silver bell for you to ring, but it seems rude to ring it, since the lady is no more than five feet away. Mia is not letting go of her death grip on my hand, and she can’t see over the top, so she digs into her pocket for a critter.

There’s a big school clock on the wall, and apples and rulers on the curtains. I can hear women chatting and laughing in the back offices.

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