Whirlwind by Bailey Bradford (reading the story of the .txt) 📕

“Baby?” she asked, placing her hand where he was touching her. “Are you here? Are you okay? Are you happy?” She leaped up. “Severo!”

Jordan frowned, but it didn’t take him long to remember the man his mother was now trying to call on the phone. Severo had come to McKinton right before Jordan had headed off to join the Marines. Jordan couldn’t remember when exactly the man had arrived in town—hell, Jordan had been a horny, self-centered kid. He hadn’t paid attention to anyone other than himself at that time. But he did know who Severo was, and the resemblance of Conner’s boyfriend to Severo was uncanny. He couldn’t believe he’d missed it before.

Then again, he really only had a few memories of ever seeing Severo, and those times that he had seen the man, Severo had been in the company of the town sheriff, Laine Stenley. He didn’t even know if Laine was still alive, if he was the sheriff or not.

“Thank you, Severo. I’ll have coffee and there’s plenty of food for you and Laine.”

He supposed that answered his question in regards to Laine. Now that man Jordan had indeed noticed years ago. Laine was tall, stoic, a throwback to the days of Western cowboys who wore badges and kept their town clean with bullets and respect garnered by the residents. Yeah, Jordan remembered him very well. He wondered idly how the man had aged.

Jordan hovered in the kitchen while his mother got out dishes. She put small containers of sugar and some milk on a tray along with the cups and saucers. Then she went about making up a tray of lunch meats and cheeses, crackers and desserts. Jordan’s mouth watered, but he wasn’t the least bit hungry.

As his mother worked, she murmured to him almost constantly, filling him in on the town’s events. Laine was still Sheriff, though there was talk that he wanted to retire and take his man off to Hawaii to live. And there were spirits—many of the people of McKinton had ended up having some kind of interaction with them. One spirit seemed to like to put on shows, send papers flying around and around like mini-tornadoes and other such harmless things.

Jordan was betting on that being Conner, though he couldn’t imagine the guy being playful at that point. Not after Conner had gone all protective on Jordan and Gideon in regards to Stefan.

And thinking about Stefan caused all kinds of confusing feelings for Jordan. He really liked the kid— No, not a kid. Stefan probably would have been his age or maybe even older had Stefan not died. Jordan wasn’t sure what the rules were with aging and death, or being dead, rather. He supposed he’d find out over time.

“Honey, it’s just me,” someone called out from the front room.

Jordan hauled his spiritly ass in there to see Craig Escobar closing the front door. Craig was the guy his mother was dating. Jordan had only got a few letters and emails from his mom about the man before being killed. He’d never met Craig since he’d only moved to McKinton in the past year.

Craig was short, and not just in comparison to Jordan’s six-two. Jordan put him at five-five tops, which meant Craig was a couple of inches shorter than Jordan’s mom. The guy was attractive enough, though. He had a round face that would keep him looking young forever probably, and distinguished-looking streaks of white in his hair at the temples. His clothes were nicely fitted designer jeans and top, but that was okay. He wasn’t flashy, just well-maintained, Jordan thought.

And he looked at Jordan’s mom like she was his entire world.

“Missy,” Craig said almost reverently as he opened his arms to Jordan’s mom.

She sniffled and moved into his embrace with an ease that bespoke of her own attachment to Craig.

Jordan wished he’d read those letters and emails more times than he had, that he’d looked for the love his mom obviously felt for Craig there in between the lines. He’d been such an idiot, missing what had to be there in her words. Jordan just hadn’t been able to imagine his mom really with someone, but now he realized that, despite his age, when it came to his mom sometimes he still thought like a child. It was humbling.

“I’ve asked Severo to come over,” his mother was saying, “and he’s bringing Laine.”

“That’s nice of them,” Craig murmured, rubbing Missy’s back. “Is there a problem I can help with?”

She pulled back and swiped at her eyes. “Oh, no. There’s not a problem, I just…” She took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly before moving away to lean on the counter. “Have you heard any stories about McKinton?”

Craig looked utterly confused. “Besides that it’s one of the places to be in this oil boom?”

She nodded. “Yes, I mean about the town itself.”

“I—” Craig closed his mouth and seemed to consider the question seriously before continuing. “I really am not around other people much. I mean, I work, running the business, and I go out to eat at the diner, thank God. Otherwise we might not have met. I’m pretty much a homebody, you know that.”

“I do, but I thought maybe your employees might have talked,” Missy said.

“About what?” Craig asked with obvious confusion.

“Ah.” Missy crossed her arms over her chest and plucked at her sleeves. “Well, see—” She was saved from providing an explanation by a knock on the door. “Let me get that. Could you set the tray on the coffee table, please? Oh, and grab the coffee pot?”

“Sure, of course.” Craig lifted the tray up while Jordan followed his mother into the living room. As she reached for the door, Jordan felt a frisson of unease spreading inside him. It wasn’t that he sensed something evil, but more that he became aware of someone else sensing him. And he heard a male voice quietly ask in his head, “Jordan?”

Jordan flailed back as his mother opened