Her plants were still wilting, especially the American bittersweet. It’s holes grew bigger, and the leaves have begun to curl. Ana still didn’t know why. She used pesticides and watered it plenty. She hasn’t seen any sign of any caterpillars or snails. What was the problem?

It was an early Monday morning, and Ana was tending to her plants just before she goes to her first day of work. She hadn’t seen hide or hair of the Motloe boys, which meant Beau was too ashamed of telling Judas about her drunken Thursday night to show his face around her, and Judas was being watched by Beau. The break from them both had been good for Ana, as her near-anxiety attack on Friday made her realize that she was putting too much stress on herself. Her weekend was spent relaxing, or as best as she could.

The phone call with her mother a few days ago had left her feeling confused and worried. Her mother’s behavior was unusual, and she felt as if there was something wrong with her. She had told a different story than the last one. Had something stopped her from speaking about it the first time?

Ana surmised it was best to no longer speak about anything concerning the incident or Motloes to her mother. The topics seemed to make her more stressed than she already was.

Ana didn’t want to think about her mom possibly being sick, especially not now. Today was her first day of working at the local grocery store, and she’ll be damned if she’s late because of some worrying thoughts.

—_—

Ana hated tight collars. They were always distracting and made her neck itch, no matter what. Alas, her boss insisted she wear the store’s uniform like a proper adult. The blue cloth shirt fully buttoned, tucked in her ugly brown pants, and no sign of any wrinkles. Blue was never her color.

Her job as cashier was simple, smile and greet customers, answer questions, and ring them up. That would’ve been simpler, if not for the townspeople constantly asking her the same old questions about herself. How have you been doing since your dad died? Do you ever feel lonely in that big old house by herself? Why don’t you come to church next Sunday?

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Deacon wasn’t there. to her boss’ discontent. He hadn’t even called in sick, he just didn’t show up. Ana was secretly delighted by this fact, as it meant that she didn’t have to deal with him on her first day. Although, it also meant she had to do his work in between ringing up customers. She had a job once when she was eighteen at another store, stocking shelves and sneaking cigarettes from her co-workers. It was the first time she had a job, just after her dad died and she started her cigarette addiction that she now is recovering from.

She didn’t get the cravings; those stressful days were over, but the old habits were still there. Patting her coat pocket for a smoke after getting out of her truck on cold winter days, exiting a nightclub after hours of dancing, stressful days when she makes the trip to Livernville to see her mother, and work breaks. Work breaks started it all, and she’s trying desperately not to start that habit again with this new job. Not seeing Deacon today was a big stress reliever on that part.

As she was stocking green beans on the bottom shelf of the canned food aisle, a man came into the aisle and started looking at the shelf behind her. She twisted around to grab another can of green beans from a cardboard box and out of the corner of her eye she saw the man. Shaved, head, baggy clothes—Judas.

Her heart skipped a beat and she fully twisted around to face the man, but no. It wasn’t Judas. His back was to her, but from her spot on the ground she could tell his shoulders were too broad and his skin too tan to be Judas. It’s not Judas, she tried to calm her beating heart. It’s not Judas.

When her shift finally ended at five, an old sedan pulled up in the parking lot. Ana ignored it at first as she walked to her truck, but the window was rolled down and a familiar face appeared.

“Look at you! A hard-working FoodyMart employee!” Logan beamed, her smile pearly-white.

Logan was a very old friend of Ana’s. She had grown up with her, had gone to each other’s birthdays, sleepovers, and parties. They were inseparable during their school years, and Ana was saddened when she moved to Livernville when her dad got sick, but that meant they had video-called every day. They were two states away from each other but still talked as if nothing changed.

Ana smiled and approached the car. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I remembered you started your new job today. I came by to see if you wanted to get some food afterwards. I see I’ve caught you at the right time!” She replied.

Ana nodded. “I could go for that. I didn’t eat anything during my break, and I’m starving.”

Logan leaned over and opened the door for Ana. “I assume it went terribly? Deacon works here too, doesn’t he?”

Ana got into the car and closed the door. “Wasn’t so bad. Deacon wasn’t here, actually. Playing hooky, it seems.” She buckled her seat belt and threw her purse in her backseat. “How about we get takeout and go to my place, maybe watch a movie?”

Logan smiled. “Sounds like a plan, Kravens.”