The following morning, Jack Creek is brought to the waking world by a thunderstorm challenged only by the likes of Hurricane Monroe. Boo jolts awake to the sound of thunder shaking her tiny apartment, sending her heart into an early morning sprint. On the couch beside her is a tangled mess of blankets, the only evidence of Harry's lean body curled up with hers the night before. She vaguely remembers him leaving somewhere around three in the morning, when Boo could barely keep her eyelids open. Before the patter of rain can lull her back to sleep, a call from Frank pops up on her phone and Boo knows she's got no chance of having an easy day.

« • »

"Hey, Melly, long time no see!"

Upon trudging into the hardware store almost an hour later, Boo is immediately greeted by a cheerful-looking Luke.

"Hey, Luke," she mumbles wearily, shaking the rain from her umbrella. He bounds forward, preparing to crush her in a hug, but stops when he sees her melancholy expression. "What's wrong, babe?"

"Rough night," she lies hoarsely. Rough everything, honestly-her chest still aches from the buckets of smoke she inhaled and Martha is once again heavy on her mind. "Frank called me in last minute this morning. Said I'd be fired if I didn't come in."

Luke rolls his eyes. "You know he doesn't mean it. He needs us way more than we need this job."

"Regardless," Boo grumbles, stifling a sigh. "It's a pain in the ass to see his name on my phone."

Luke cackles gleefully beside her, and she can't help but crack a small smile at hearing his unabated laughter. "Ah, there's my sunshine!" he cheers, causing her smile to grow even more. "Come on, it's early so we can still get away with being lazy. I've just been stocking the small appliances, you can refill the paint color samples."

"Nice and easy," Boo exhales gently. Luke nods in agreement and she slides him a grateful grimace. "Thank you," she says softly.

"Anytime," he pipes. "When you're working in Hell, you gotta look out for each other."

Another wide smile crosses her face. Luke gives her an exaggerated salute before sauntering back to his stocking ladder. Boo takes a few extra minutes putting away her belongings and plows through a bag of cookies from the break room before grabbing an armful of paint samples. She passes Michael on her way to the paint aisle; he flashes her a bright grin but he's tied up with a customer and she isn't in much of a talking mood anyway. She returns his smile before retreating to her quiet assignment.

Time becomes inconsequential as she works. The methodical, mundane nature of her task is oddly comforting-a sense of grounding after such an emotionally turbulent evening. A rainbow slowly appears in her wake as she works her way through the small shelves, placing hundreds of colored slips in their designated spaces. By the time she steps back an hour later, an entire section of the paint aisle is a bright, colorful miracle. Boo smiles in satisfaction at her handiwork.

Her peace is short-lived. A tssk from the radio hanging on her belt pulls her back to reality. Her shoulders sag forward and she sighs instinctively.

"Melly, you mind giving me a hand?" Luke's voice crackles over the radio. "Customer just walked in the front, I'm still stocking on the ladder and Michael's on break."

Boo groans but obliges, trudging toward the front entrance. Her eyes nearly roll out of her skull when she sees none other than Calum Waters waiting by the help desk with a smug smile on his face. His hands are idly flipping a small packet of matches, but he immediately stops and straightens up upon noticing her.

"Hey, Mel, didn't know you worked here," he beams as she walks closer.

Boo doesn't have the energy for fake pleasantries. "What do you want, Calum?"

The smile drops from his face and he clears his throat. "My granddad needs some wood glue and I wasn't sure what's the best brand."

With a sigh, Boo leads him to the glue aisle and he chooses one before leaving the store without incident. Upon stomping over to scold Luke for sending Calum her way, she's surprised to see him already watching her with a vexed expression.

"Sorry, Melly, I didn't realize it was that guy that came in," Luke apologizes while putting away the last handheld power drill to be stocked. "I would've dealt with him myself."

Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You know Calum?" is all she can manage to say. Truthfully she shouldn't be surprised; a town this small, people tend to know one another, especially someone as social as Luke.

Luke rolls his eyes and Boo suppresses a smile at having found someone to commiserate with. "Unfortunately so. Kid's fucking weird, to say the least."

It's one thing to weird out Boo, Queen of the Antisocials. It's another thing to weird out Luke, who doesn't know a stranger. Her arms cross over her chest and she leans in curiously. "How so?"

Luke clomps down the ladder before jumping the last two steps and landing agilely in front of her. "We lived on the same street when I lived in Jack Creek. He was just . . . odd. Stay away from him. He may have joined the military but the kid's definitely got some unresolved issues."

"Don't worry, I'm not jumping any fences to hang out with him," Boo remarks snidely. Luke laughs obnoxiously as he slings an arm around her neck. They begin ambling back to the break room, walking perfectly in sync. Through the open break room door, Boo can see Michael tapping away furiously on his phone. He doesn't bother to look up as she and Luke enter the room and slouch into the chairs beside him.

"Hey, Mikey," Boo says hesitantly after a moment. "Everything okay?"

Michael pokes his tongue into the corner of his mouth. "Playing Pokemon, in the middle of a raid. One second."

Luke scoffs aloud and tears open a packet of cookies. Boo reaches for her second bag of the day and begins munching down.

"Hey, Luke," she begins casually. He raises an eyebrow at her. "Who did you live with in Jack Creek? I don't think you've ever told me that before."

"My parents," he answers simply. "My granddad lived with us too, for a while. Before he passed, you know. Why?"

Boo chews idly on a cookie. "Just wondering. Do you think he knew my nana?"

"What, my granddad?" Luke asks, and Boo nods. "Suppose so, most people their age knew each other. If she went to Primark, they definitely would've been friends."

"She did, she graduated in 'sixty-seven. I just found some photos of her and my grandfather the other day from around their graduation. It's still weird seeing her in that setting-how she used to look versus how I knew her."

"If you want more, my granddad kept a lot of memoirs. There's probably a yearbook or something that he left behind, it's yours if you want."

"Y-Yes," Boo answers immediately, caught off by Luke's unexpected kindness. "More photos would be great. Thank you so much."

He nods casually. "Just come over with me after work and I'll give you what I have."

Work passes by with the speed of spilt molasses. After locking up the store that night, Boo tails Luke's car to the house he shares with his parents. She waits in her idling car for a few minutes before he stumbles outside, his arms laden with several thin books.

"Here you go," he pants, handing her the stack of yellow yearbooks through her passenger window. Plumes of dust rain onto her dark fabric seats and coat her hands in a thin film as she eagerly snatches up her newest possessions. "That's everything my mom kept after my granddad died, or at least everything we could find. If I see anything else, you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you, Luke," Boo says, fighting the grateful tears that threaten to well up. "I really appreciate it."

"Anytime," he grins. "It'll get easier, and hopefully those will help."

"Hopefully."

dropped u some spicy lil clues in this chapter. hope ur able to pick them out :*