Read Online Skies Like These by Tess Hilmo - Free Book Online Page A

time when this parking lot would get packed with cars. We’d put our vegetable starts and potting soil out there by the front doors in the spring and swap them for bags of salt and ice melt in the winter.” It was like Roy was showing Jade around his bedroom, getting all sentimental about the shopping carts and chipped-up paint on the front curb.
    When they were standing in front of an electronic keypad on the side of a sliding metal door, Roy said, “Let’s hope they haven’t changed the code on us yet.” He punched in six numbers, followed by the pound key. The door shuddered and started rolling up, click, click, clacking the whole way. When it jerked to a stop and the puffs of dust cleared from the air, Roy stepped inside. He stood in the middle of the storeroom, hands proudly on his hips, surveying the mostly empty shelves that lined the walls.
    â€œIsn’t it grand?”
    Jade noticed two dusty toilets and a tower of bricks in the corner. “Sure.”
    â€œThis isn’t even the best part.” Roy walked over and pushed a wide, swinging door open. Jade followed him into the main store area. Sun was streaming in the front windows, illuminating a blue-and-gold mosaic-tile pattern in the floor. Roy ran the point of his boot along the edge of one of the tiles. “My dad put this floor in all by himself.” He walked over to a counter, which had two cash registers. “And we replaced this countertop last year—I got to pick out the stone. See how it has these gold flecks in it? The building owner let us do whatever improvements we wanted. It was like our own place.”
    Jade patted the countertop. “It’s real nice, Roy.”
    He turned, leaned his back against the counter, and looked out across the expanse of the room. To Jade it looked like old shelves half-spotted with boxes and clearance signs but she knew it looked like paradise to Roy.
    â€œDid I ever tell you about what happened to Butch Cassidy when he was a little older than us—only thirteen years old?”
    â€œYou know?” It was a silly question. Of course he knew.
    â€œHe went by the name Roy back then and his family lived in Beaver, Utah. One day, he rode into town to talk to the shop owner about buying some overalls. He was hoping to strike a good bargain. When he got to the general store, it was closed. He could have come back another day, but it was a long ride into town and he was kept pretty busy on his family’s ranch. So he decided to let himself in and leave a written IOU note in exchange for the pants. He left his real name and everything!”
    â€œThat sounds fair enough,” Jade said, though she wondered what her local grocery store manager might think if she helped herself to a case of Oreo cookies and left an IOU note. Maybe he wouldn’t mind, but she doubted it.
    Roy went on. “When the store owner came in the next day, he saw the note and called the sheriff. Without even talking to Butch!”
    â€œWho went by Roy at the time,” Jade clarified.
    â€œRight.”
    Jade shook her head.
    â€œBack in those days, a person’s word was their bond. Butch Cassidy never made a promise he didn’t keep. He had every intention of coming back and working out a fair deal for those pants, but folks never gave him a chance to make it right. They wrote him off as some crazy thief and filed charges. They didn’t even try to understand him. That was the beginning of it all for Butch.”
    Jade looked at Roy. He was hanging his head, staring down at the tips of his cowboy boots. She wondered how much that last part of the story fit the Roy standing next to her. “Thirteen is awfully young to be so misunderstood,” she said.
    â€œYou know something?” Roy said. “I think you would have gotten along real well with Butch.” Then his round cheeks spread out into a smile. “Care to walk four stoplights down the road with