Welcome to Wednesdays where I share an excerpt from one of my books using the previous day's word from the New York Times' game. WORDLE. Yesterday's WORDLE was JOKER.
You can read the first three chapters of Small Town Secrets for free on the Kindle Vella platform. This is an excerpt from episode 10.
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“Fancy a game of cards?” Without waiting for an answer, I went to the game closet and pulled open the doors. Since her fall, Sadie had grown quiet. She’d been talkative enough through dinner, but then we’d done the dishes in companionable silence. I hadn’t thought anything of it, but now that the sun had gone down, maybe the reality of spending the night with me terrified her? I tried to look harmless—even though I probably outweighed her by a hundred pounds.
Sadie looked up from her corner of the sofa where she’d
nestled into a corner with what she called the mysterious scrapbook—the one
filled with pictures of teens from the turn of the century. Her eyes widened
when she took in the closet and she whistled. “I take it your family likes
games.”
“According to Max’s old girlfriend, we have what she called a
dangerous game culture.”
“Oh dear, that sounds, well…dangerous.”
I turned back to the closet to pull out the shoebox where we
stowed the cards. “When we’re all together, it can be and you’d be wise to be
cautious, but tonight, it’s just you and me.” I flinched when I realized how
that sounded. “I’ll go easy on you.” Augh. That didn’t sound much better.
“I’m not scared of you, farmer boy.”
“Farmer boy?”
“Admit it, you’re a hick from the sticks.”
Her comment took me by surprise. The box of cards slid from
my fingers and crashed at my feet spilling cards in all directions.
“Ah, now we’re playing 52 Card Pick Up.” Sadie uncurled from
the sofa, stepped over snoring Buster, and dropped to the ground to help me
clean up my mess. “At least this is a game I know.”
“Not my favorite,” I grumbled. Kneeling beside her, I
gathered up the cards. “Do you really think we’re hicks from the sticks?”
She shot me a surprised glance and her eyebrows rose. “Are
you kidding? Your family is one of the most successful in the state and your
farm is renowned. If you’re hicks, you’re beating everyone with your stick.”
“I’d rather be a stick-carrying hick than a city slicker.”
Sadie scooted around on her hands and knees, placing the
cards into piles. Her long hair had come loose from its tie and it fell around
her face like an impenetrable silky curtain. She snorted. “Only someone from
the sticks would call where I’m from a city.” Sitting back on her haunches, she
brushed her hair out of her eyes and gazed at me.
I stared at her, feeling transfixed. “What do you call it?”
She flung an arm in the direction of her house. “I call it 47th
Jordan Trail. That’s my home now.”
She sounded sad. Was she? Maybe a game would cheer her up.
“Do you know Gin Rummy?”
“You picked the last game, so it’s my turn to choose.”
“I didn’t—”
“52 Card Pick Up, remember.”
I blew out a raspberry. “You cheat. I can tell already,
you’re a cheater.”
Sadie gathered up a deck of matching cards and climbed to her
feet. “We’re playing Scum.”
“Scum?” I followed her to the table where she sat shuffling
the cards and looking way more confident than I thought she should.
“It’s like War, but glorified.”
“Sounds like there’s a lot of strategy involved.”
“I have to warn you, I’m very good.” She dealt us each nine
cards and scooted a pile to my side of the table. “Don’t look at those.”
“And bossy.”
She arranged three facedown cards in a row in front of her
and then turned over another three. She had a king, a joker, and a ten and
seemed pleased with what she saw. “I’m a nurse. Bossy is in my job description.
If people don’t do what I say, they may die.”
“And scary.” I followed her instructions and lined up my
cards to mimic hers. I had a two, a five, and a joker, but didn’t have a clue if
that was good or bad. “Let’s make a deal. If I win, you’ll come with me to my
brother’s engagement party.”
She picked up her remaining three cards and organized them in
her hand. “And if I win, you’ll help me find my father.”
Somehow, it made sense that we were playing a game called
Scum and talking about Bo Hovde at the same time.
*SADIE
We played until one in the morning. Maybe we stayed up so
late because we both felt awkward about sharing a house with a near stranger.
It wasn’t until after Caden had shown me and Buster to our room that I realized
I’d forgotten to bring over my clothes.
Caden must have realized the same thing, because he said,
“There are spare toothbrushes in the master medicine cabinet.” After a moment,
he added, “New ones. We keep them for emergencies. My sister Chloe is super
forgetful. My mom calls her Cloud-headed Chloe.”
“Does she hate it?”
“No, because it’s said in love. Everyone loves my mom, and
she loves everyone.”
“She sounds lovely.”
“She is.”
Something I learned in a sociology class came back to me. Girls,
watch how a man treats his mother because that’s how he’ll treat his wife, Professor
Granger had said. It was always hard to tell what was part of the curriculum in
that class, but since everyone raved about Professor Granger, I had taken her
course for one of my general education assignments.
Caden pushed open a bedroom door and switched on the light.
Two queen-sized beds dominated one wall and an antique armoire sat against
another. A rocking chair with a crazy quilt folded over its back stood by the
large windows looking out at the starry night sky.
Buster wandered in and dropped into an exhausted heap beside
the bed.
“This is where my sisters usually stay,” Caden told me. “I
bet they keep some clothes in the wardrobe. Why don’t you poke around…unless—”
he paused, “You don’t want to go and get your things, do you?”
“No. It’s just for one night, right? I’ll be okay.” I followed
Buster into the room and gazed out the window. Moonlight reflected off the
roofline of my house poking through the trees. A gray smudge rose beyond the
trees, reminding me of the smoke I’d smelled earlier.
He practically wilted with relief. “I mean, if you want me to
go and get your things.”
“No!” The word came out harsher than I would have liked, but
the thought of Caden collecting my underwear horrified me. “I mean, I’ll have
to go over there tomorrow to get Buster’s food if the powers not on, but it’ll
be on by then, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely,” Caden said with more confidence than I guessed
either of us felt. He hung in the doorway. “I’ll go and find you a toothbrush.”
I crossed the room to the armoire and, feeling like a
trespasser, opened the doors. The scent of perfume wafted out. A couple of
oversized plaid flannel shirts hung from a rod and a Huskies sweatshirt was
neatly folded on a shelf. I discovered a lacy nightgown in a drawer. I faced a
moral conundrum—borrow something to wear to bed without asking the owner—because,
obviously, none of these clothes belonged to Caden, who was huge—or sleep in my
underwear. Typically, I would choose the latter, but what if Buster had to get
up in the night? Or something or someone roused me from my sleep? I would want
to be wearing something…right?
I could just wear my clothes…
Did the door have a lock? I padded over to investigate.
The door swung open and smacked me in the face.
I yelped and grabbed my nose.
“What are you doing?” Caden asked.
“I’m fine.” I grabbed the toothbrush out of his hand, pushed
him out of the room, and slammed the door.
I was anything but fine.
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