Page 3 of Cactus Heart
“Shit.”
My gaze flicked back to the mirror and I turned my head, checking the Bob Ross clock hanging in the kitchen down the hall. Bob was always twenty minutes early, and I’d never bothered to fix him.
But that meant I waslate.
There was no time to do everything Reddit was telling me to do. Every Wednesday morning, I had to be at Whynot Paint before 9 a.m. or face the wrath of the small town’s elderly students for being late. Ms. Carlson, in particular, was a pain in my ass. Listening to a retired math teacher lecture me on tardiness was the last thing I needed this morning.
I grabbed a scrunchie off my vanity and swept my hair back into a messy bun. Five more makeup wipes in the trash, and I was only slightly less cartoonish.
As long as I avoided my brothersandmotherandfriends while in town, I’d avoid hearing about this little incident for the rest of my life.
Myfinal final final warningphone alarm screeched. I winced, turned it off, and rushed to my bedroom.
This is what I got for wanting to make a change in my life. Everything had always been the same since I’d moved back to Whynot. The little Far West Texas town was slower than molasses, and the people here were nuttier than Evie’s famous pecan pie.
The last census showed that there were 2800 people in Whynot, and since I was raised here, I could name almost every single one of them. My four-year escape to the University of Texas in Austin for my fine arts degree would forever be referred to as my glory days from here on out.
Well, aside from the time spent dating a piece of shit who made me doubteverythingabout myself. But that was besides the point.
The only thing we had going for us here in Whynot was that it’d become a tourist destination over the last few years. Artists, photographers, and travel gurus alike flocked here throughout the summer. They came for the aesthetic, then left to escape the heat.
Since my dad passed away, my brothers and I did our best to carry on his legacy in the town. With the Whynot name, we were at the center of everything we could do to help this place.
I owned his old art studio and worked with the community to bring art to our schools and anyone else that was interested. I was also on the Whynot planning committee for the annual fall festival and an ear for everyone’s complaints.
Basically, I had three jobs, was bluer than a Texas summer sky, and had no romantic life because my two older brothers were menaces to anyone who batted an eye at me.
I had a love-hate relationship with those two. Of course, Ilovedthem. But I was sick of my love life being treated like something they could swoop in a ruin any time they wanted. It was funny when I was a teenager, but now I was creeping toward thirty and could count on one hand how many people I’d dated.
The problem was, the last person I dated not only had been Dallas and Austin’s friend, he’d turned out to be manipulative. Mean. Abusive. I was still angry at myself about dating him for so long. I ended my relationship with Kevin the moment he left bruises on my arm in an argument, and then two days later, my dad unexpectedly passed away.
Needless to say, my brothers had their reasons for being overprotective. Even if they drove me nuts.
Dallas was a mechanic. Four years older than me, liked to keep to himself—which was unfortunate for him, because being aWhynotinWhynot, Texas meant you never had a moment of peace.
Between him and our oldest brother, Austin (another city name, because my parents embraced their Texas pride a little too much), Dallas was the least annoying of the two assholes.
Austin was the worst. Everything had to bea certain wayin his world. The pressure he put on himself to be perfect spiraled out to everyone around him which made him completely insufferable at times.
My “messy” aesthetic? It drove himinsane.
But, I had to hand it to him, Austin did his best. He also had too much on his plate, by his own fault, between running Whynot Stay, the library, and being head of the city council. He was thirty-five, and I was certain that with his stress levels, he’d be dead before forty.
But what the fuck did I know? I was the youngest of us three, and those dicks never listened to me.
I was probably going to grow old and die alone in my cute little house with a thousand vibrators and an addiction to one of those ridiculous dating shows Evie and June loved so much.
I threw on my favorite gray T-shirt, slipped into a faded paint-stained set of overalls, and rushed through the house snatching up everything I needed to get out the door. My bag was tossed over my little green velvet sofa, my sunglasses on the sunflower-tiled kitchen counter, my boots kicked apart in the entryway.
June and Evie were going to lose it if they saw me today. I should have asked June to do my hair to begin with, but my ego had gotten in the way.
Speaking of my two favorite devils, my phone buzzed.
June: Have you seen your new neighbor yet?
Evie: Oh yeah, I’ve been waiting for an update. What’s he like?
June: Hey, we don’t know for sure if the neighbor is a guy. We just heard that from the grapevine. Could be a sexy woman
