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)
All in all, their items fit between four bags with Delaney taking the one with more fragile items and the lightweight pack of toilet paper on the floor, and Lucas handling the other three bags and the box of beer between his two available hands.
He gestured, with dangling bags, for Delaney to head out of the store first, and so she led the way. Shoving the door open by turning her back to get the job done hands free, she found Lucas had stopped a couple of steps away at a rack he must have missed on the way in.
He stared, quietly subdued, at the sight of the newspaper rack for the Telegraph Journal and the other community papers. Tomorrow, the Telegraph, in particular, should be running the obituary Lucas had written for his brother.
In the end, he hadn’t needed very much of her help penning out the words on an old legal pad of paper with a pencil he’d sharpened using a kitchen knife. She didn’t ask to read it because he hadn’t offered, but she sat quietly beside him as he typed it out on his phone in the loft upstairs until he was satisfied with his work. Then, he asked her to read it before he plugged in the booster for the phones to send the obituary out.
Other than a passing moment before they left when she asked about a particular photo of an older Jacob—clearly adult age—and Lucas that she’d noticed on the sitting room wall, he hadn’t willingly brought his brother into their conversation. Delaney didn’t want to push him. Lucas should be allowed to grieve, even if that was silently, however he needed to.
No exceptions.
She’d simply agreed to be here while he did it.
That was all he asked of her.
His lengthy pause at the newspaper rack continued long enough for Lucas to ask over his shoulder, “You get the new edition for the Telegraph every day it runs?”
“By noon, at the latest. If the weather’s bad,” the man tacked on like that counted for something.
“Good to know,” Lucas murmured.
At that, he nodded once more to Delaney who continued holding the first interior door for Lucas to pass. He held the second for her.
*
Set on top of a small hill off the main road, the store had a good view of the logging trucks blowing past on their way to the sawmill upriver. Delaney helped Lucas to load their bags, and other items, into the back of the truck where he’d parked it alongside the hill after filling up with gas.
“At least nothing’s gonna melt sitting on the back,” Delaney muttered, still bitter about the cold and not afraid to complain.
Lucas didn’t seem to mind.
Much.
“It’s not that bad today, come on. There’s snowshoes in the cellar, by the way. We could get out on the trails—take a walk.”
That didn’t sound too bad, actually.
“Can we do something else today?” she asked.
Lucas leaned against the side of the truck and arched a brow. “Like what?”
“The main road is bare.” Which really meant that a driver had a better view of the asphalt covered in black ice. Lucas had managed the truck well, so far. What was thirty more kilometers? “How would you feel about taking the truck on a little drive?”
His lips split with a smile. “How little?”
“The Flats?”
She didn’t explain why she wanted to go to the quaint farming community just outside of the valley on the other side of Montgomery Mountain, but if he asked, then she would tell him on the drive. Delaney couldn’t justify being this close to her best friend’s home, and not making some kind of effort to visit Gracen.
Her pregnant, soon-to-be married best friend.
Didn’t they have things to catch up on?
Delaney couldn’t pass the opportunity up. Especially if she didn’t have to show her face in town where her family still lived and attended their long-time church, practicing their faith to the same smothering letter that had once sent her running away. Lucas being a part of her process of returning home, in a way, just happened to be a bonus.
Besides, the food would stay cold on the back of the truck, and hadn’t Lucas earned something—a drive and the chance to meet new, friendly people—to keep his mind off the sadness in his heart?
She thought so.
“That’s twenty minutes or more from here,” he said. “What’s there for you, family or something?”
Close.
“The only family I care to know,” she returned.
The best family was the one a person chose, after all.
No hesitation, Lucas nodded at that. “All right, sweets, then let’s go.”
Chapter 21
“Did you think we wouldn’t need the condoms?” Delaney asked.
The question that had been plaguing her mind from the moment the Arthurette store faded into the background in the passenger mirror.
Next to her in the truck, Lucas cleared his throat. “Sorry, you just … came right out with that question now?”