Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 2

It turned out to be a good thing Grace had brought the casserole dish because by the time Jo took a break from organizing and cleaning, she was absolutely wiped out and even thought of making a sandwich seemed painful. She'd mostly been subsisting off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches plus a bag of mixed fruit--easy to prep and clean up, for the most part.

Jo peeled back the tinfoil cover and peered at the dish. Something creamy and with chicken? Well, that was always a good start. Too hungry to take the time to heat it up, she dug her fork in and popped some chicken-sauce-breadcrumb combo in her mouth.

"Ommghdh," she mumbled, quickly digging for another sporkful. Either she was even more starving than she thought, or Grace made a heck of a chicken casserole thingy dish. She was going to have to give the lady some profuse thanks later. "This, my ghostly friends, is heaven," she announced to the kitchen, waving her fork in the air. "You're really missing out."

She grinned a little at the thought of there being Scott ghosts. There were a lot of weird things in this world, for sure, but she'd yet to encounter any ghosts. She sighed and re-covered the pan, now with a large, empty corner, and then stood up to stick in in the fridge. Nope, she highly doubted there was anything spookily exciting in this house. Which was a good thing. Half the point of coming here was to stay far away from anything exciting.

More than half the point, honestly.

Well, this was a good stopping place to go and make her supply run she supposed. She glanced down at the dirt-covered overalls, debating if she should change. Probably so, since this was going to be her first real foray into town. Didn't want to start off her time here with the wrong impression if she really was going to stand out as much as Grace had warned.

Quickly changing into some clean jeans and a t-shirt, she re-tied her straight black hair back into a ponytail, grabbed her keys and purse, then locked up before heading out to the car. Her dad had insisted she take the Subaru, saying at least its all-wheel drive would be better than her little city-friendly economy car. She found herself grinning a bit as the car bumped its way down the gravel road toward the main highway. Thanks, Dad.

Once she was on the main road, it was just a matter of following it until she reached Jackson's Hollow proper. It wasn't going to take her long to find her way around here. She already remembered which road led to the community college, after having stopped by yesterday to officially enroll. Jo hadn't really taken a look at the various stores when she'd driven through the town yesterday, so she thought she might walk around and see what all was available here. Best to know now what she could get in town and what she'd have to order off of Amazon.

Jo pulled into one of the angled spots on Main Street in front of a store that said "Bill's Hardware," figuring she'd save any grocery store shopping for last. There seemed to be a few people in the store, so she supposed that was always a good sign. Jo took a deep breath. Okay, citizens. She could do this, she'd done just fine with Grace and her kids earlier. Before she could chicken out, Jo firmly pushed the car door open.

Cleaning supplies, cleaning supplies. Jo wasn't being intentionally rude, but she also didn't make any eye contact with anyone as she hurried into the store, rushing past a couple older men who were sitting outside, rocking back and forth in a couple rocking chairs that were for sale. She bobbed her head a little at them, hoping that was polite enough. Her dad had said that people in her grandparents' hometown might be overly friendly or, on the other hand, standoffish. Grace had been nice, but Jo hadn't interacted with anyone else yet. She didn't want to jump into the deep end of the town's social scene today (or probably any other day), so she was going to get in and out as quick as possible.

Once inside the store, she headed down the first aisle, glancing up at the signs. Except there weren't any signs. Okay... She looked at the goods on the shelves, where there were hundreds of bins containing nails, screws, and staples. Not exactly what she was looking for.