“If you bring this into court, the whole county will hear about her nervous spells,” he said.

“People talk in a small town, Samuel.

By Friday, nobody in Hartwell will buy hay from a man who can’t keep his own household quiet.”

He pulled the front door shut without taking the boxes inside.

I walked back to the truck.

Claire was sitting in the passenger seat, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle, looking straight through the bug-splattered windshield.

“Did he give you the blue dress?” she asked.