Chapter 34

He snapped his fingers, turning to Brad. “I’m new in town—been there maybe three weeks. Came up from down south, which would explain any accent I might have.”

“Which isn’t much of one, but it’s there. Why Cleveland?”

“I heard there were jobs and…yeah, my uncle used to live there, a long time ago. He’s dead now. So’s my dad. He was fifty-five when I was born. I was the only child he had. My mom’s remarried and is God only knows where, at this point.”

Brad thought about it. “The only child of his second marriage. You don’t know your step-siblings because their mother took them in the divorce and moved to somewhere out west, California maybe.”

“Okay. So I’m on my own, hurting, and wishing to hell I’d stayed where I was because there’s no more jobs in Cleveland than there are down here.”

“What do you do?”

“Since I dropped out of high school, I do whatever I can get, but mainly I’m a short-order cook.”