Read Online Cast a Road Before Me by Brandilyn Collins - Free Book Online

a source of fear than joy.
    Lee had snatched up the phone and carried it into the kitchen, its long cord trailing to an outlet beside the chair in which I sat. His muffled voice continued to drone through the wall. “He’s been on that phone ever since Thomas called,” his mother was saying to Aunt Eva. “Phones ringin’, tongues flyin’ all over town. Somehow he’s got hisself smack in the middle. But that was always Lee. Tryin’ to fix everything, you know.” She looked pointedly at me. “Speakin’ a fixin’, he’ll have to show you out yonder. Another month or so and he’ll have the addition for Connie and the baby done. We kept tellin’ him, ‘you don’t got to do that,’ but he insisted, sayin’ a child’s got to have room to grow.”
    I glanced at Aunt Eva, but she was the picture of innocence. All the same, I saw right through their none-too-subtle scheming. When Lee reappeared with the phone cradled in his palm, his mother flicked a casual hand in my direction. “Our guest would like to see your handiwork; why don’t ya show her.”
    “Uh, sure,” he said. His mother’s intentions were equally obvious to him, and, sensing his embarrassment, I hesitated.
    Aunt Eva shot me a look. “Well, go on, you two.” Then, with purpose, she turned her back on me, asking Miss Wilma about the neighbor’s gall bladder operation, and what would that woman and her husband do if things went poorly at the mill. Smiling weakly at Lee, I allowed myself to be ushered out of the room.
    Holding my elbows, I walked with him through Connie’s small bedroom, feeling awkward at the ambient intimacy. The room was cluttered with clothes, cloth diapers, and a few bright toys, awaiting small hands. “Crowded, huh.” Lee pointed to an unpainted door, still smelling of freshly cut wood. “I’m addin’ on here.” I muttered my approval. “It’ll lead to a nursery and a playroom. I got the frame up but it’s not Sheetrocked yet.” He opened the door and we stepped into sunlight, Aunt Eva’s chatter fading away. “Mama’s excited ‘bout a grandbaby,” he smiled, “but like most older folk, she needs her quiet. This should keep both her and Connie happy.”
    “I’m sure it will.” I leaned against the bare frame and looked around, searching for something else to say. Lee found a hammer on the floor and tossed it into a cardboard box.
    “How long you stayin’ in town?”
    “Till the first of August.”
    “What then?”
    I told him my plans.
    He scooted the box with his foot, kicking up dust. “I’ll bet you’re sorry you came back to Bradleyville.”
    His perception surprised me. “No. Not sorry for me. Just … sorry for all the trouble people are facing.”
    “Yeah. Well.” In the distance, I heard the phone ring. Lee dragged a hand across his forehead and smiled at me ruefully. The barest of dimples shadowed his right cheek. “I’ll let Mom get that.”
    “My uncle doesn’t even know how the meeting turned out. He’s still not home yet.”
    “Yeah, he is. That was him callin’ when you arrived. I told him y’all were here.”
    “Oh! What does he say? What do
you
say?”
    He watched a robin land on a nearby phone wire, cocking its head at us with curiosity. “I say ‘no’ doesn’t mean forever. We got to keep dialogue open with Riddum and at the same time keep tempers in check. Includin’ mine. It’s not just the money anymore; it’s the way he treats us. If he showed us more respect, maybe we could handle the lack of a raise. For the second time.”
    “And if he doesn’t?”
    “Things could get ugly.”
    “Is that what you want?”
    Irritation flitted across his face. “‘Course it’s not what I want. It’s not what anyone wants. But I got a lot to think about. My mother and sister on one hand and a bunch a angry men on the other.”
    A protectiveness for my own family rose within me. “What about my uncle caught in the middle? He’s your manager, but he’s friends with