Renegade Path

She stood and leaned in to kiss my cheek. “When you do want to talk about it, I’m here.”

“Thank you.” I glanced at the window. The snow was still coming down slowly in big, fat flakes. Jesus, I didn’t even have a winter coat or boots.

“I better go wash this off my hands.” She flashed her palms at me.

“Good call.” I followed her into the bathroom. Since I’d forgotten the concept of privacy, I relieved myself while she was at the sink. She hurried out and closed the door behind her.

I met her in the hallway. “Is my hoodie still downstairs?” I wanted to burn the thing, not wear it again, but I didn’t have anything else.

She frowned and shook her head. “That’s not warm enough to shovel snow.”

I shrugged. “It’s all I got.”

“Don’t think this is…weird. But Mrs. Shields still had a lot of her husband’s clothes.” Juliet ran her gaze over me. “He was a big guy. Really tall.” She flashed a pained smile. “I think that’s why Mrs. Shields liked you so much.”

I let out a bittersweet laugh. “She was a nice woman.” My jaw clenched. “Knowing she was trying to…foster me…it meant a lot. And I feel like shit I never got to thank her.”

Her eyes filled with tears but she held them back. “I told her. Many times.”

She sniffled once, then cleared her throat. “There are a couple of winter coats of her husband’s in the closet downstairs. Boots too. She told me once, she used to leave them on the front porch to scare would-be intruders away. So I’m not sure what condition they’re in…”

“Anything will be better than what I’ve got.”

I followed her to the end of the hallway, where she pushed open a door.

“I haven’t had the heart to clean out her things yet,” Juliet explained, leading me to one of the closets. She slid the door open. “This must have been her husband’s closet. It’s all men’s clothing.”

It’s not like I wasn’t used to hand-me-downs. But I couldn’t help feeling like a grave robber rummaging through the clothing of a man I’d never met. My hands brushed against something soft toward the back of the long metal rod. Plaid flannel. Two different patterns. They both appeared to be new with tags still attached. I pulled those forward. They were a size smaller than most of the other shirts and sweaters. The tags had clearance stickers on them from L.L. Bean.

I threw my head back and laughed. “Oh, shit. Eraser would be so jealous. I wish I could tell him this.”

“Who?”

“One of my roommates. He was cool.” I blew out a breath. Damn, I hoped things were going okay for Eraser with his uncle. “I hope I can find him now that we’re both out. I really want you to meet him.”

She didn’t say anything. I unhooked the two flannels from their hangers and tossed them over my arm. I found two long-sleeved thermal shirts in a dresser and a pair of jeans that would work if I cinched them with a belt. Everything felt clean but had a slight unused scent clinging to them. It didn’t matter. I certainly wasn’t fussy about my wardrobe.

Juliet followed me back to our bedroom.

“So you made friends while you were there?” she asked.

Friends? I stared at the window, not really seeing anything beyond the frosty glass. “More like brothers. Griff’s kinda like that annoying older brother I never knew I wanted. Eraser’s more mellow. We looked out for each other. Well, really, they looked out for me.”

“Oh.”

I turned around to face her.

She stood there twisting her fingers together but a relieved smile lit up her face. “I’m happy you weren’t alone there.”

“Misery does love company,” I said.

What happened to me was an awful lot of heavy shit to lay on the shoulders of a seventeen-year-old girl. So, I forced my mood away and held up the two plaid shirts. “Red or green?”

“Um.” She pressed a finger to her lips. “Red. Save the green for when we go out.”

“Go out, huh? Where are we going?”

“Grocery shopping.” She grinned at me and turned her palms up toward the ceiling. “Apparently, when you’re an adult, a ‘night out’ is a trip to the supermarket.”

“Sounds like the kind of normalcy I’ve been longing for my whole life,” I blurted out. Juliet was still in high school. She should have more to look forward to than picking out ripe bananas in the produce section.

“Me too.” She backed away. “I’m going to start breakfast.”

Suddenly, I was ravenous. I hadn’t eaten since…shit, I didn’t even know when. “What were you making last night? It smelled really good.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Spaghetti and meat sauce? I put it away for lunch—”

“That sounds awesome.”

“For breakfast?”

“Yup.”

“Okay.” Her whole face brightened. “You got it.”

The delicious scent of garlic hit my nose when I entered the kitchen a few minutes later. The stove hummed in the background while Juliet set the table.