Bent

Dedication

To Miss Mack and Bubba

Chapter One

Julia Wilson couldn't wait to escape Brooklyn, Wisconsin when she was younger and she wasn't ready to be back now. Plenty of friends and classmates who'd shared the same feelings had been sucked back into the small town life but she swore it would never happen to her. Some people moved home to take care of family business and others came back because it was something familiar. Thirteen years after breaking free, Julia found herself in the latter category.

The Brooklyn Julia called home during her childhood couldn't be further from the urban image most people's minds conjured up when she told them where she was from. This Brooklyn had no stoplights and only one major intersection. Besides the fact that it was as far from big-city dreams as one could get, there were too many memories to consider staying long-term.  Too many disappointments. Too many problems she'd been able to hide when she blended into the Nashville landscape that would be exposed when she came home.

She noticed that the streetlights no longer cast a hazy, orange glow from high over the street. The new gas-lamp style lanterns flooded the street with LED light. But beyond the lights, the storefronts lining the street were still historic and charming. Schneider's Diner anchored the downtown district as it had for as long as Julia could remember. Across the street, the only signs of life in the moonless night came from The Oasis, which was still the only bar in town. She thought she recognized a few of the faces standing outside smoking and thought about stopping for a drink. She decided against the idea, her desire to be out of the car for the day trumping her resistance to walking into an empty, unfamiliar house. Ten hours was a long time to be on the road and it wouldn't be long before people heard she was back in town and she was pulled from her solitude. Might as well enjoy a night of peace before facing the small town rumor mill.

Julia pulled her black Pontiac into the last driveway on Lincoln Street. Rather than leasing an apartment on Main Street overlooking the business district, Julia had been talked into renting a house from her best friend's parents, sight unseen. Annie had told her the place needed a bit of work and even in the middle of the night Julia could see that had been an understatement. The once majestic Victorian home sat vacant on the edge of town for over two years waiting for someone to give it some TLC. Julia started to make a mental list of problems to be fixed but abandoned that line of thinking when the list became too long and depressing to think about. If it wasn't for the fact that she was paying next to nothing for such a large space she would have doubled over on the steps in tears.

Stretching her stiff back and legs, Julia pulled one suitcase out of the trunk and found the key Annie had placed under the welcome mat. If she'd have left a key hiding in such an obvious spot at any of her previous homes, it would have been an open invitation for someone to break into the house.

If she ignored the fact that the home had been neglected for so long, it was possible to see the promise held within the structure. The only room she absolutely hated at first glance was the kitchen. There was no way she could enjoy her favorite hobby in such a cramped space.

After surveying every room in the large home, Julia realized it was far more space than she would ever need.  At least she wouldn't be cramped like she would have been in an apartment. She'd grown accustomed to open floor plans in Nashville. Besides the divorce itself, being forced to sell the house she loved was the black mark of the previous year. No, selling the house was worse. The divorce was merely a formality by the time it was said and done.

She walked back down the steep staircase and flopped onto the hand-me-down couch in the living room. It wasn't the least bit comfortable but it would suffice until she went shopping. Josh had offered her all of the furniture in the divorce settlement, but she'd opted to sell it, claiming it didn't make sense to rent a truck for a 700 mile move given the price of fuel. She momentarily cursed that decision as she tried to get comfortable for the night.

The sun beating in the front window was a cruel wake-up call. Even without the excruciatingly long day she had yesterday, there was no reason to be awake so early. As she tried to sit up, she was certain that a couple of springs from the dilapidated couch were shoved into her hip and nearly piercing her kidney. There was no way around it, Julia was going to have to go shopping today.

Quiet. There was no noise as she walked to the driveway to grab the morning essentials box she'd carefully placed on the front seat. She'd forgotten how still everything seemed when there wasn't morning commute traffic crawling down the freeway on the opposite side of an alleged soundproofing wall. Most people would love the serenity of waking up on the edge of a small town, but after a decade of living in major cities it put Julia on edge.

With the coffee maker unpacked and the first pot of the morning brewing, she took a moment to look out the sliding glass doors leading to a large deck behind the house. It was obviously a more recent addition to the house and would be a nice retreat once she found some patio furniture.

Once the coffee was coursing through her veins, Julia unloaded the car. It was a quick job since she refused to bring anything that wouldn't fit in her car. She threw the three bags of clothes into the walk-in closet upstairs and moved her computer into the office. While she was anxious to unpack, it was a job that would have to wait until after shopping so she had places to put everything.

Before driving into Madison to hunt for furniture she liked that wouldn't break the budget, she stopped by Schneider's for some breakfast. She pulled out her iPad and added grocery shopping to the to-do list. Even though eating out was convenient and the food at Schneider's was delicious, she couldn't afford for it to become a habit.

The breakfast rush had cleared out by the time she walked through the doors, with the exception of a group of regulars sitting in the corner. She shook her head when she saw the table of old men gossiping over coffee, just as they had every morning when she worked here as a teen. She sat at the counter and ordered one of Mrs. Schneider's fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. They were the size of a salad plate and contained enough butter that Julia knew she'd have to fit in a run to burn the extra calories. And it was worth every delicious calorie.

She saw Tom Schneider push his way through the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. He did a double-take when he noticed her.

"Julia Sanders! What in the world are you doing here?" In classic Tom fashion, he approached with arms spread open.

When she was younger, all of the kids called him Papa Bear. He was the first to give you a hug when you needed it but he was also the last person you wanted to upset. All of the parents knew this and accepted Tom as a surrogate parent, allowing him to dole out discipline as he saw fit.

"Hi, Papa Bear," Julia said as he squeezed the air from her lungs. "It's Julia Wilson now, but still me."

Julia started to realize that she was giving the bad memories she had of Brooklyn too much power. She'd forgotten the simple things like Tom and his wife's cinnamon rolls. And she had plenty of good friends in town. She decided that no matter how long she stayed she was going to focus on the good memories she'd buried under the pain.

She and Tom spent some time catching up on what had been going on since she'd left. From the sounds of it, everything at the diner was going well; the exception being that two of his best servers were leaving for college and he didn't have anyone applying for the jobs. He reminded her that one day she had been the girl leaving him to chase down her dreams. Working from home as a social media manager wasn't exactly the dream she'd had for herself when she left for college, but it kept her busy.

Compared to the time warp of Brooklyn where everything seemed to have stayed the same, Madison was barely recognizable. The boundaries of the capital city had been pushed miles beyond where there had only been fields when she younger and tall office buildings flanked the highway. While in Nashville, she'd told herself that coming home was temporary because she needed the urban comforts and networking opportunities that weren't available in a small Midwestern town. She quickly realized that she hadn't given her hometown or the surrounding area enough credit.

After the third thrift store, Julia realized she was going to be forced to bite the bullet and buy new. She was hoping to avoid this since she planned on sorting out her life in the near future so she could move on to bigger and better things. Brooklyn was a stop-gap, not a permanent home and it would be easier to move on if she hadn't invested a ton of money into furnishing her house. She decided to stick to the essentials, purchasing a sleigh bed, something she had always dreamed of owning, a microfiber sectional sofa, a desk and an entertainment system. Anything else she needed, she would pick up at garage sales. She just hoped she hadn't missed out on them since summer was nearly over.

The delivery truck backed into her driveway late in the afternoon. Not willing to spend another night with springs in her back, Julia had paid extra for same-day delivery. The house started to feel a bit more like home with her own furniture in place.

She started to get excited about living alone for once in her life. It felt strange to think that at thirty years old, she'd only spent one night living by herself. First it was her family, then her college roommate, then Josh. There was always someone else to consider before making any decision.

By the time Annie knocked on the front door, Julia was ready to quit organizing for the day. She opened the door and the pair threw their arms around each other squealing like school girls. They'd always promised to make time to visit one another in the years since high school but life had gotten in the way. In that embrace, the years since they had seen each other melted away.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Julia asked. Since she'd been reluctant to go out, she left all of the planning to Annie. Had it been up to Julia, she would have opted for staying in and sharing a bottle of wine while they made up for lost time.

That wasn't Annie's style. She was loud and proud. She wanted to make her presence known wherever she was and tonight she planned to make Julia's presence known to everyone in town.

"I invited a few people from school down to The Oasis. I figured we'd celebrate the fact that you're finally back." Annie flashed a wide smile and Julia knew she would go along with whatever hair-brained scheme Annie had in mind. After all, she had said she was going to embrace the things she loved about Brooklyn. She hadn't been close to many people in high school but she knew they were good people. She'd connected with a few of them online and was surprised to find how much everyone changed once they were out of the hormone-poisoned air of high school.