Chapter Two
"Credence, Do you think Ma would let us have a piece?" Modesty pressed a finger against the bright red cinnamon drops in the jar. He shooed her finger away, embarrassed by the smudge left behind.
"You'll have to ask Ma, Modesty." He said quietly. The sound of bare feet on the wooden floor caused him to turn his head. The shop girl ducked out from behind a curtain to the back, causing him to straightening up and pull his hat from his head, smoothing down his hair.
But as she passed and he went to speak, she'd already averted her gaze. Modesty looked up at him, confused. It was almost like he had crumbled in on himself, his shoulders and eyes dropping. Had he somehow offended her? Perhaps she was regretting helping him at all. Or had he imagined the whole thing? His fingers gripped his hat tightly.
"Is Ma laughing?" Modesty's mouth hung open, looking back to see Mary Lou speaking with a man who stood tall, stroking a full beard of ginger hair with a hand on his hip, occasionally gesturing grandly. Mary Lou nodded along to his story, listening carefully. Credence had to look twice just to make sure he hadn't hallucinated the smile she wore, quite an uncommon expression.
Chastity stood beside the pair, looking at her siblings, wide eyed and uncomfortable. She seemed to be begging for help.
"Well, we would certainly love to come, Ms. Barebone, if you and your family'd be so kind to have us. Adeline you know, with her mother gone, she could really do to be around some good Christian influences. Ain't that right, Adeline?" He called over to Adeline who seemed to snap out of the stare she was stuck in. The man's voice was rough, and Credence couldn't quite place the accent. Deep and Southern.
Adeline suddenly pulled her lips into a tight smile, nodding. "Oh, that would be wonderful!"
She bit her tongue, knocking a can of corn to the floor by accident. Credence reached for it at the same time she did, knocking hands, and almost heads. They looked up at each other startled and Adeline inhaled sharply, for a moment frozen. An apologetic smile crossed his face, but she gave him a hard stare, snatching the can and turning her back.
Credence watched her, straightening slowly, shrugging his shoulders to readjust his suits jacket and Chastity pressed her lips together, watching the hurt on his face plain as day. And if pity wasn't the worst of it, when Credence turned, he saw Mr. Nickels staring him down like a watchdog while he spoke to Ma. Credence's jaw clenched and he swallowed hard.
At that precise moment, he wanted nothing more than to crawl away out the store, into the storm drain, and drown out into the sea. He tugged at his collar uncomfortably, fingers digging into the weeks fresh lashes inside his hands, the stinging pain momentarily distracting him from the embarrassment boiling in his chest and up into his cheeks.
As they left, Adeline watched him sadly. His head lowered with eyes fixated on his shoes, a droplet of blood rolling off his knuckle and onto the floor. He didn't even bother looking back when the others waved and that made her feel more guilty than anything. Within moments, she had successfully crushed what little kindness she'd given him.
Her father came up and slapped his hands down on her shoulders, causing her to jump and inhale sharply. And he just took a moment and rubbed his hands over her frozen shoulders slowly, letting his presences sink in. She stood stiffly, staring out the window but not really seeing anything. The clock ticked loudly above them. Somewhere outside a car honked angrily and her father's silence rung in her ears. It seemed to be ages before he finally patted her back and walked away.
She exhaled.