Two
Noell Carpenter sighed. Day off. Weekends were so long.
She stretched. Nice not to go to the Roads Department, but she missed the guys. She missed the camaraderie and the joking. The family atmosphere. Even Rat.
The family.
She supposed everybody had questionable members in their family. One might be nice, another maybe from a different culture. And everybody had a Rat. Her work family had one; he had tried more than once to interest her in his idea of love.
Ick. Hence the name.
Her room upstairs was pristine, as always, but today it seemed empty. She liked the clean feel—just a couple things on the bedside table—her Bible from Gamma, the “Osceola Times” cup from the porch and her baby bracelet. She rolled over and picked up the bracelet. So tiny. The smallest pearls she’d ever s
