She wept quietly, her shoulders shaking with every breath as the truck climbed the hill past the county line.

I knew what Daniel was doing.

He had already moved eight thousand dollars out of their joint savings into an out-of-state bank account before he ever spoke to Miller, covering his tracks while Claire thought he was merely trying to protect his local standing.

He thought if he made the town laugh at my boots and made my daughter ashamed to sit in a booth at the diner, we would fold up our papers and go home.

I turned the truck off the state route and onto my gravel driveway.