The Nut Low

Chapter 1:

“This is my turn.”

I glanced over at the man who’d given me a ride this far and nodded. “Thanks, I appreciate the ride.” I held out my hand and shook his, then hopped out of the old beater. Dust kicked up around me as he turned east away from town. From here, it was only about a mile to the edge of the place I once called home.

I swallowed hard and hitched my backpack up on my shoulder. I hadn’t been here in years, not since I left after my brother died. Tim was so full of life, but that was tragically cut short on his twenty-first birthday. Nothing had been the same after that. I left and never looked back. Now I was regretting my choice.

Taking my first steps toward town, I pretended it didn’t feel like a huge elephant was sitting on my chest. It wasn’t just the memories that assaulted me. It was the guilt. My old man died a couple years back, but I just heard the news six months ago. My brother Henry hadn’t bothered to call, not that I expected anything different. To say we weren’t close was an understatement.

When I hit the outskirts of town, the memories started hitting hard. The playground we went to on the weekends looked exactly the same. They hadn’t torn out the merry-go-round or the steel slide that burned your legs if you were wearing shorts on a hot day. The teeter totter looked like it’d seen better days, all rusted and squeaking as two kids played on it. I laughed, remembering when Henry had gotten off while I was in the air. I went crashing to the ground, my ass hitting hard. I ran off to my mom and told on him, just to get him in trouble, because that’s what brothers did. 

Some of the buildings on Main Street had been updated, but it was mostly the same. Not much changed in a small town like this. If anything, small towns usually got worse with time. It wasn’t exactly a booming metropolis, and investments were few and far between, especially when most people had to drive a half hour for a decent job. 

Two men walked out of the police station, laughing as they headed toward me. My eyes shot up in surprise when I realized it was Jack Harding and Carter Roy. When they saw me, the look of shock on their faces was enough to make me laugh.

“Mason?” Jack asked, grinning as he walked up to me, hand outstretched. “How the hell are you?”

“Not bad,” I answered, shaking his hand. 

“Wow, it’s been…”

“A long time,” I laughed, hoping he didn’t go all grim on me. I turned to Carter, shaking his hand. “Man, look at you. Shit, you look so old now.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, I was such a baby before.”

“You kind of were,” I chuckled. “So, the sheriff and his deputy,” I said, appraising their uniforms. 

“Yeah, you’ve missed out on a lot since you’ve been gone.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really?”

“No, not really,” Jack laughed, the sound slightly forced, leading me to believe he wasn’t being totally honest with me. “We’ve had some excitement around here in the past few years, but it’s not like the whole town is changing.”

“So, where are you headed?” Carter asked.

“I thought I’d stop by the old man’s place and check it out.”

They shared a look, then turned back to me. “I’m sorry,” Jack said sympathetically. “The house was sold a few years back.”

“Really? But…”

“Henry put it up for sale,” Jack cut in.

Yeah, that sounded like something Henry would do. Although, after what happened between us, I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t called. Not many men would have the balls to speak to their brother after what he did.

“So, who owns it now?”

“Andrew Cortell and his wife, Lorelei,” Jack answered.

“No,” I groaned. “You let a Cortell get my house?” I asked, like I actually cared.

“It was actually Lorelei,” Carter said. “Now, that’s an interesting story if you ever get around to it.”

“I’ll be sure to ask him about it.”

“How long are you staying?” Jack asked, his eyes taking in my backpack.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Do you have a job lined up?”

I shook my head. “Nah, but I’ll figure it out.”

I knew they both wanted to ask more questions. Hell, I’d been gone for years and then I just walked back into town one day with nothing but a backpack, an old leather jacket, and Tim’s favorite baseball cap.

“Well, it was good to see you again. Stop in if you decide to leave. You know, say goodbye this time,” Jack jeered.

I huffed out a laugh, nodding at him. “I will. It’s good to see you.”

Heading down the sidewalk, I decided before I saw anyone else I needed to go to my parents’ old place and retrieve the most important thing I’d come home for. I kept my head down as I walked through town, trying not to draw attention to myself. I heard the whispers, saw the pointing fingers, but I ignored them all. Finally, on the other end of town, I walked in peace to the house I grew up in. 

Standing at the end of the driveway, I felt a pull in my chest, thinking of the last time I was here.

“You can’t leave,” my father argued. “Timothy died, your mother died, and your brother left me. You’re all I have now.”

“I can’t stay,” I said, shoving some clothes in a bag. “I need to get out of this town.”

I zipped up my bag and headed for the door. My dad grabbed my arm as I passed, jerking me back to him. “Please, Mason. I’m begging you…”

“I need to do this.”

That was the last time I’d been home. Had I known how bad it had gotten for my dad, maybe I would have stayed, but I was determined to get out of town and live life. 

I tightened my grip on my backpack and walked to the back yard. At the edge of the property were the remnants of an old fort we’d once had. Now it was just a pile of wood, collapsed from rot and years of neglect. Getting down on my knees, I started digging in the spot I remembered all too clearly. Grass had grown over this whole area and the ground was hard as a rock, but I sunk my fingers into the earth and dug until I finally found what I was looking for. 

Sitting back on my ass, I stared at the metal box, my fingers twitching to open it. Instead, I opened my backpack and was just stuffing it inside when I heard the click of a gun. Slowly, I raised my arms and turned around.

“Who are you?” a feisty brunette asked.

“You must be Lorelei.”

She frowned at me, adjusting her stance. “Who are you?” she asked again.

“My name is Mason. I used to live here.”

“That whole family is gone.”

I nodded slowly. “I’ve been gone a long time. My dad died a few years ago.”

Slowly, she lowered her gun. “You’re the middle son.”

I nodded again. 

She flipped the safety on the gun and nodded to my bag. “What are you doing out here?”

“I just came back for something I left here a long time ago.”

“You could have just knocked on my door like a normal person.”

My lips twitched in amusement. “I could have.”

“So, why didn’t you?”

“I guess I just didn’t consider it.”

She just stared at me like she didn’t understand. “You should be careful. Bad things tend to happen around me.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Me too, sweetheart.”

“I wouldn’t let my husband hear you say that.”

“Andrew? Last I saw him, he was a scrawny little shit.”

“Yeah? Well, he could kick your ass now.”

As if on cue, I saw Andrew come ambling out of the back door in the distance. Huffing out a laugh, I turned back to Lorelei. “He could kick my ass, huh?”

I wasn’t the Hulk, but I was muscular and knew how to handle myself. There was no way Andrew could kick my ass, let alone lay a finger on me.

“Lorelei, who is it?” he shouted, still not close enough to see.

Instead of answering, she turned and headed toward Andrew. I knew I wouldn’t be able to slip out without saying hello, so I followed. He obviously didn’t recognize me when I got closer.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Mason.”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked me over. “Granville?”

“The one and only.”

“No shit. That’s just…I can’t even.” I frowned at him. He barked out a laugh and then walked up to me, giving me a very happy hug that I wasn’t sure I wanted or deserved. Slapping my back, he laughed raucously. “Holy crap, man. How the hell are you?”

I pried his arm from around my body and took a step back. “I’m good. You?”

“I’m great. You met my bae, Lorelei…”

Lorelei rolled her eyes. “He reverts to Millennial speak when he’s excited.”

I didn’t know quite what that meant, but it didn’t really matter either.

“So, you’re grown up and married,” I grinned.

“Yeah, well…she hooked me,” he said, doing some kind of fishing thing. “Anyway, how the hell are you?”

“Good. I just came back for something,” I said, lifting my bag.

“Right, because you used to live here.” He slapped himself on the forehead. “How’s your brother?”

“I wouldn’t know. We haven’t spoken in years.”

He frowned slightly, draping his arm around Lorelei’s waist. “Sorry about your dad.”

I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. I really just needed to get out of here. It was clear there was nothing left for me anyway.

“Well, I have to get going.”

I stepped around them, but Andrew followed. “Are you leaving again?”

“Nah, I’ll just find someplace to stay in town.”

He snorted. “Do yourself a favor, don’t go to the motel. That place hasn’t been cleaned in years.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.”

“Oh, hey, you could stay here,” he said, like it was the best idea ever. “I mean, we have plenty of rooms. There are three upstairs and then there’s the attic…” He slapped himself upside the head again. “Of course, you already know that since you used to live here.”

“I appreciate that, but…”

“Too many memories,” he said, as if reading my mind.

“But I’ll catch you around town.”

He nodded, then stopped me again. “Hey, where’s your ride?”

“I walked.”

“Let me give you a lift.”

“Not necessary. Besides, I like walking.”

Without another word, I turned and headed back to the road. I didn’t have a plan or a place to stay, but that didn’t matter to me. I had always been scrappy. I could be that way again.