Sheriff ✔

Chapter 5

Time had gone by, and Evalyn was still so closed off to me. She moved about me quietly. I joshed and prodded to no avail. I was gentle in my requests and liberal in my appreciation for what she did. She remained unmoved, however, and always responded with a quick "my pleasure" and nothing more. My conversation with Lilith the evening of that fateful day played in my mind.

She had been silent for a little while after I had fumblingly described my unexpected attraction and the terrible encounter I had with Evalyn earlier that day.

"Willy, you have to be kind to her. You can't be so mean and cruel and truly expect anything to happen."

"Well, I shouldn't want her. I shouldn't indulge my emotions, but I don't know how not to."

"You are an absolute oaf to let the opportunity to explore this pass. What do you have to lose? Being kind to Evalyn will just make you a decent human being for a change – " I chuckled humorlessly " – and you may gain a friend out of it...or much more. Just pretend she's any woman you're attracted to and who conveniently works for you in your home."

It seemed so simple when she laid it out, but we were not living in simple times. As if reading my mind, she continued.

"Don't fret about the backwater people in this town. Just be discreet. I've been in... positions that have been less than conventional, but I haven't been chased out of town yet."

I paused, reading into her words.

"Do you think you'd ever want to marry, Lil? Truly? I know you joke about it and all."

She laughed sharply, and I winced. "Oh, I'm sure I'll marry someday, and I do want children. When I marry it'll be to a man a little more clueless and who I love a lot less than you – someone I won't feel bad knowing that he doesn't have the entirety of my heart. Someone who won't notice my close friendship with Ms. or Mrs. So-and-so down the street, whoever she may be at that point."

I was really trying to show Evalyn that I was not the terrible person of the past several months. She seemed so set in her interpretation of my personality that I began to despair. It didn't help that I also began to fall sick. When Evalyn left my house Sunday morning, after making me breakfast and setting the house straight, I could feel the cold and heavy fingers of fever wrap themselves around my bones and chest. Leaving breakfast untouched, I spread out on my couch and hoped a nap would restore me to health.

~~~

I sat in the still Monday morning with Grams. She had insisted on cooking me breakfast this morning, though she really should have been resting. I enjoyed our time together. Her house and presence were a refuge from the tumultuous situation with Mr. Davis. He frightened and also angered me, but I needed the money. I never mentioned to Grams how my boss had cornered me and so aggressively told me to stop doing whatever it was that I was doing. He truly did hate me. He hated my skin, my wide nose, my coiled hair – he hated my existence. I let it sink into my soul and operated out of it when around him. I would be silent unless absolutely necessary and would not let his recent sentimental overtures get me to soften. They just annoyed me. What did he want? Couldn't he just be consistent? I decided to pay him no mind and heap the same disregard upon him that he had so freely heaped upon me.

Gram and I were seated on the porch when he rumbled up. I sighed deeply, gave Gram a kiss, and made my way to his car. I slipped into the back, and he took off. We sat in silence. It wasn't until we were almost home that I realized he was deathly pale and look markedly ill.

He lurched into his house, and I had to help him push open the door – he was too weak. This man was definitely sick. He collapsed onto the living room couch with a groan and pulled the pile of blankets around himself. I noticed Sunday's uneaten breakfast in front of him. Oh how dearly I wanted to breeze past him and clean the house without a word. Nowhere in my job description had it mentioned tending to ill, spiteful men. But I knew what the right thing to do was, and after disposing of the leftovers, I went back to William.