Bella approached the boy with trepidation. He was sitting up on the jailhouse roof, looking off into the distance. He looked thin and small, like a baby bird waiting to fly away.
“So, I’ll be leaving now,” Bella said.
“Reckoned you would be,” he said, without looking at her.
“Uh-huh.” Bella couldn’t think what else to say. She turned to leave wondering why the hell she had bothered.
“Why’d you leave?” He was standing now, looking at her. Bella felt her heart ache. He looked just like her brother.
“I had things to do,” she said.
“You had me and Pa.”
“Some things are more important.”
Tears started in his eyes and Bella looked away. It would be easier if he hated her. She said it over and over again in her mind. “What’s it matter anyway? You’ve managed just fine on your own. You don’t need me.”
Bella walked away without looking back. Jackson Straw crouched and hugged himself as tears tripped down his nose on to the roof. He needed her more than she would ever know but he was damned if he would admit it.