Trouble Walks You to Work

I woke up mad.

Not sad.

Not scared.

Mad.

Which was probably an improvement, considering the dreams I’d had were the kind a decent woman had no business having about a man whose name she didn’t even know.

I stared at my ceiling and covered my face with both hands.

“Nope.”

The dreams had been warm.

Too warm.

Dark curls.

Coffee eyes.

A hand at my waist.

A voice close to my ear.

I sat up so fast the room tilted.

“Nope,” I said again, louder this time.

Dreams like that meant nothing good.

Not for women in my family.

Grandma Mae used to say dreams were letters from places we couldn’t visit while awake.

I had always thought that sounded beautiful.

Until I started receiving mail I never asked for.

So I did what I had always done best.

I ignored it.

I got dressed in jeans, a clean shirt, and the kind of bra that said I had accepted adulthood but not joy. My curls had decided overnight to expand in all directions, so I wrestled them into something that looked less like a fox had nested in my head and more like a woman pretending she had control of her life.

By the time I opened the front door, my brother was sitting on my porch steps eating a gas station honey bun.

I stopped.

He looked up.

“Mornin’.”

“No.”

He grinned.

“Love you too.”

“What are you doing here, Levi?”

Levi stood, brushing crumbs off his shirt.

At twenty-two, he was already taller than me by enough to be disrespectful. He had his daddy’s black hair and my mama’s bright green eyes, which made him look like trouble that had been dressed for Sunday service.

He was, in a lot of ways, the perfect mix of them.

But where Earl Ray was hard and Mama was soft in all the wrong places, Levi was something different.

Sweet.

Sharp.

And smart enough to know when not to show it.

That was the thing about my little brother.

He didn’t fit either.

Not really.

But he was Earl Ray’s golden boy, so people ignored the ways he didn’t match the town’s expectations. They ignored his softness. His questions. The way he looked at the men around him like he was taking notes he might someday use against them.

Everybody underestimated Levi.

He let them.

I didn’t.

“Dad said I’m supposed to walk you to work,” he said.

I stared at him.

“You are not serious.”

“As a heart attack.”

“Why?”

“To prevent further incidents.”

I closed my eyes.

“I hate this family.”

“You love me.”

“I tolerate you because Grandma told me to.”

He grinned.

“Same thing.”

I locked my door and stepped around him.

“I do not need an escort.”

“I know.”

That made me look at him.

Levi shrugged and fell into step beside me.

“I’m not here because I think you need one. I’m here because if I don’t show up, he’ll make both our lives miserable.”

I sighed.

Fair.

We walked in silence for half a block before he nudged me with his shoulder.

“So.”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna ask.”

“You were gonna ask about the bus.”

“I was gonna ask if the bus was cute.”

I shoved him.

He laughed.

“You’re an idiot.”

“You almost died and still somehow managed to make it weird. That’s impressive.”

“I didn’t make it weird.”

“Town says a stranger swept you off your feet.”

“Town can choke.”

He laughed harder.

Then his expression shifted.

“You okay, though?”

I looked over at him.

There he was.

My baby brother.

The one I used to sneak snacks to when Mama and Earl Ray were fighting.

The one I taught how to make pancakes because nobody else remembered he needed breakfast.

The one I had lectured more than once about not becoming like the men who raised him.

“I’m fine,” I said.

He gave me a look.

Not Dani’s look.

His own.

The one that said he knew me better than I wanted him to.

“You always say that.”

“Because I’m usually fine.”

“You’re usually lying.”

I smiled despite myself.

“Don’t get smart.”

“Too late.”

We passed the church, then the old hardware store.

Levi kicked a rock along the sidewalk.

“He was out of line last night.”

I didn’t answer.

“He shouldn’t have talked to you like that.”

My throat tightened again, and I hated it.

“You say that to him?”

Levi snorted.

“I enjoy living.”

“Then don’t say it to me.”

He stopped walking.

I kept going two steps before I realized.

When I turned, he was watching me with those green eyes.

“He underestimates you,” Levi said.

“They all do.”

“I know.”

Something about the way he said it made my chest ache.

He looked down at the sidewalk.

“Sometimes I think he should be more careful.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“With me?”

“Yeah.”

I laughed once.

“Levi, I am five-foot-two and one bad knee away from needing a weather app.”

He didn’t smile.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

He stepped closer and lowered his voice.

“You’ve got something in you, Ruby. I don’t know what it is. But I know enough to know you don’t need to lift a finger to ruin somebody who deserves it.”

The air between us changed.

Quiet.

Heavy.

I thought about Grandma Mae.

About dreams.

About things I denied but couldn’t ignore.

Then I smiled because that was easier than telling the truth.

“You been watching too many crime shows.”

“Maybe.”

But he didn’t believe that.

Neither did I.

By the time we reached the restaurant, the breakfast rush had already started. Coffee steamed in the windows, and the smell of bacon floated through the air like a peace offering from God.

Levi stopped by the door.

“I’ll walk you home tonight.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Yes, I will.”

“I’m grown.”

“And bossy.”

“I raised you better than this.”

“You raised me to argue with unreasonable women.”

I pointed at him.

“That better not be about me.”

He smiled and pulled me into a hug before I could protest.

For a second, I let myself relax.

Levi was too young to carry half the things he carried.

Too good for the shadows he was being raised in.

And if I had to spend the rest of my life standing between him and the men who wanted to shape him, I would.

No questions asked.

“Be careful,” I said.

He kissed the top of my head just to annoy me.

“You too, short stack.”

“I will end you.”

“Love you.”

“Unfortunately, same.”

He laughed and walked away toward his job.

I watched until he turned the corner.

Then I went inside.

Dani took one look at me from behind the counter.

“Oh honey.”

I froze.

“What?”

She leaned on one elbow, eyes narrowing.

“You look like shit.”

I sighed.

“Good morning to you too.”

She grabbed two mugs and poured coffee into both.

“Nope. Sit down.”

“I have tables.”

“Ruby.”

I sat.

Dani pushed one mug toward me.

“Start talking.”

I wrapped my hands around the coffee and stared into it like it might give me a better answer than the truth.

“I almost got hit by a bus.”

She blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“And a man saved me.”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh.”

“And then Earl Ray showed up.”

Her face fell.

“Oh.”

“And I had dreams.”

Dani went very still.

The restaurant noise faded around us.

Plates clinking.

People talking.

Coffee pouring.

All of it seemed far away.

“What kind of dreams?” she asked quietly.

I looked toward the front window.

Outside, the town moved on like nothing strange had happened.

But under my skin, something had started humming again.

The same feeling from yesterday.

The same warning.

The same knowing.

I took a sip of coffee.

Burned my tongue.

And said the only thing I could.

“The kind I should probably ignore.”