Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
“A rough couple of years, really.”
“Exactly. I can always fill your chair with somebody. That’s not the problem for me. I’m more concerned about making sure my girls are happy coming into work everyday. That’s what’s more important to me at the end of the day, you understand?”
Yeah, she did.
“Are you still happy working for me?” Linda asked when Delaney remained quiet across the table.
“I like my job,” Delaney replied, “and dropping off a resume with you was probably the best decision I made when I came to this city.”
“That wasn’t an answer to my question, Delaney.”
Right.
“I also miss my home,” she admitted, “and the life I left on pause there.”
Linda, with her smile that never faltered, only said, “Just try to give me a couple of weeks notice, okay? At least.”
Delaney could do that … “Absolutely.” She gestured at nothing, but her gaze traveled to the newspaper sticking out of the bag while her mind and heart went out to Lucas. His privacy invaded by too-curious journalists, and the rest of the province waking up to the article about his family. “Once I get the rest of this figured out.”
“Oh, yes,” Linda agreed, “I wouldn’t expect anything less. I didn’t see any mention of the funeral or some kind of service for the Dalton boy that just passed. Are you going to need an extra day for that? I understand.”
Sweet Jesus.
Delaney didn’t need to take further advantage of this kind woman. Even though she knew the location and time of the memorial for friends and those that were attached to Jacob Dalton, in one way or another, she hadn’t discussed showing up to it with Lucas. Other than making it clear that he suspected his father wouldn’t attend, he also hadn’t asked her if she might.
Linda put the idea out there, though, and now Delaney couldn’t unsee it.
“It’s tomorrow, actually,” Delaney hedged carefully.
The first day she should return to work for a four-day stretch.
“Do you need the hours, or … sorry,” her boss said, “I shouldn’t ask that. You’re welcome to take the day or not, but Neeka wanted the extra shift, anyway.”
Delaney didn’t need the hours.
Her savings account and lack of debt made certain exceptions possible in her life. What good was all that hard work if she didn’t use it?
You kind of just did, Delaney.
She ignored her inner voice.
Today, it didn’t matter.
“I’ll take the day,” Delaney said.
It would be four hours of driving there and back between the morning and evening, but if showing up meant she helped the day pass easier for Lucas … That was all Delaney cared about.
Linda didn’t look a bit surprised, but a softness touched her eyes. “Pass along my condolences to Lucas? I started putting the puzzle together that your emergency might have been about him after I noticed the posting in the paper about his brother … and then the calls, you know.”
“Right, Ronald.”
Even the name tasted bad in Delaney’s mouth.
The older woman rolled her eyes upward. “Right, him. Anyway, pass that along for me?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“A shame the two of you intersected at such a difficult time in his life,” Linda said, more to herself than Delaney. “I hope that doesn’t complicate things.”
Delaney still heard it perfectly fine.
Worse, she’d thought about that being the case, too.
Chapter 30
A northeaster—or nor’easter to those familiar with the intense winter storms known to pummel Atlantic Canada with cyclone-strength winds while dumping feet of snow—that had been forecasted for the later part of the week changed track slightly by Wednesday morning. It meant the Maritimes wouldn’t get the worst of the storm, but the tail end that brushed along the coast could bring fifteen centimeters or more of snow and white-out driving conditions at the time Jacob’s memorial rolled around by the afternoon.
Lucas had become accustomed to waking up in his Forest Hills high rise apartment to see the sheet of white covering the land. If anything, winter in Saint John looked predictable. It still took him by surprise to pull open the curtains and not even be able to see the ground below from the amount of snow blowing in the winds, however.
By then, he’d gotten the notification on his phone from the province warning about the drastic change in weather, and asking people to plan their day accordingly.
Well …
The storm changed practically nothing.
For him, anyway.
Lucas, trying a new thing where he slowed down his morning routine so that it gave him time to focus on himself, went ahead as he would if not for the storm once the funeral home confirmed their schedule wasn’t affected, either. He journaled through an easy breakfast of bacon and fried eggs on toast—a suggestion from his therapist that he didn’t think would hurt to try even if he wouldn’t consider himself a writer, necessarily.
Penning out his messy thoughts in his equally unreadable scrawl let him work through the jumble of emotions and the rest of the bullshit filling him up inside as the time for his brother’s memorial crawled closer. Maybe if he worked through some of it beforehand, it wouldn’t be so tough to get through the actual thing.