CHAPTER 1
Glass shattered as a heavy piece of furniture slammed into the kitchen wall, rattling the framed family photo clean off the hook in the den. Ducking behind the sofa, hiding in the shadows of the corner, Erin covered her ears.
“I told you not to burn it!” The roar of her father’s anger stole the air from the house.
“You’re overreacting—”
Erin winced, shutting her eyes tight as the slap of her father’s hand cut off her mother’s excuses.
“I work every goddamn day so that you can have a roof over your head and food on the table! Do you have any idea the stress I’m under to keep our store open? I can’t compete! That crumb cake is what brings in my customers. It’s what keeps them loyal to this family.”
They were familiar words Erin had heard before. Words that scared her enough to never visit any other hardware store other than her dad’s. Although Erin had never been outside of Center County, so she had no idea where those bigger stores were.
“I’m tired of this!” her mother shrilled.
Erin peeked around the arm of the sofa where a heavy glass ashtray sat. A cigarette had burned to the filter and the smoke snaked through the dim living room. The family photo that had fallen to the floor now had a crack down the center of the glass. Her parents’ shadows fell on the kitchen wall like puppets in a play, but this was real.
“I’m leaving, Ward. I can’t live like this anymore.”
“Leaving,” he scoffed and Erin didn’t need a clear view to picture his sneer as he paced. “Where you gonna go? Can’t cook for shit. Never lost that baby weight. And everyone around here knows you’re a lousy housekeeper.”
“I don’t care what they think. They ain’t gonna be where I’m going.”
Everything stilled. When her father finally spoke, his chilly tone caused Erin to shrink deeper into the shadows. “You wanna leave? Go. But if you walk out on this family, don’t you ever think of coming back.”
“Believe me, I won’t.”
“You’d abandon your children?” he roared and something heavy crashed into the wall. Pots and pans clattered and more dishes shattered as her mother screamed and the shadows collided. “Heartless bitch!”
“Ward, no!”
The unmistakable whip of her father’s leather belt chased Erin out of the house like the hounds of hell were upon her. She ran down a back road until the houses disappeared and the pavement changed to dirt. Her little legs pumped as hard and fast as she could manage.
She didn’t slow when twigs and rocks cut into her bare feet. Nor did she retreat to find the soft red ribbon that fell from her pigtail. She didn’t stop because she never wanted to go back. She wanted to run away forever.
It was dusk when she made it to the top of the mountain. Most people feared the bear that lived in the woods, but not her. Erin feared the monsters that hid in the open, the monsters that smiled and passed out crumb cake to townsfolk, wore pressed shirts and clean slacks. Those were the monsters that kept her up at night.
The log cabin stood out like a painting on the page of a storybook, perfect and peaceful, a place that seemed like a safe escape. Creeping around the back, she grabbed a few pebbles off the gravel drive and hid behind the large sycamore closest to the house.
She flung a pebble at the corner window on the second floor. When no one appeared, she threw another. The glass slid open.
“Who’s out there? Sheilagh, is that you?”
Erin peeked out from behind the tree and Luke McCullough scowled at her.
“What the heck are you doin’ throwin’ rocks at my window, Erin Montgomery? You’re gonna break the glass.”
“Get Finnegan,” she hissed, ducking back behind the tree again.
Luke’s twin, Finnegan, poked his head out the window and she waved him down. A minute later and the screen door snapped open and shut. “Erin?”
She’d been too set on getting away to face her fears, but now, as her friend looked at her with concern in his blue eyes, she burst into tears. “My momma’s leavin’.”
Finn’s arms wrapped around her shoulders as he followed her down to the dirt ground. He smelled of outdoors and sweat and some kind of cinnamon dessert he likely ate after supper.
“What do you mean, she’s leaving?”
“She doesn’t want to live in that house anymore. They were fightin’ again.”
They scooted back, fitting snug between the thick roots of the sycamore as they each drew their knees to their chest. She wiped her eyes and tucked her fallen hair behind one ear. She’d be in trouble for losing another ribbon.
“Will you go with her?”
Erin hoped so. “I don’t know.”
Finn’s hand closed around hers, their small fingers lacing tightly. “Will you visit?”