Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 113617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 568(@200wpm)___ 454(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
That cut to the bone.
Even so, Duncan didn’t move.
Nor speak.
“And I know it’s useless to think, if we’d managed it, if we’d overcome it, if we’d stayed together, then what other ifs would there be? I know you would never have endured what you did with Dora. I would never have had the man I loved and trusted above all others in the world betray me. We would have made babies.”
She stopped again.
Duncan held completely still, because he knew one move would drive him to her.
And he sensed she needed her space to get through this.
So he did what he was intent on doing for the rest of their lives.
He gave her what she needed.
“So just this once, between you and me, so it’s just ours, I’m going to allow myself a moment I never allow because I think it’s weak and meaningless.”
When she didn’t go on, he broke his silence to ask, “Allow yourself what, baby?”
“To hate,” she said. “To hate what Dora put you through. And to hate what Corey did to us. Not to hate them. But to hate what they did.”
“That’s not only allowed, but understandable,” he pointed out.
She turned to him at that. “I know. But you feel it and you let it go so it doesn’t consume you, Bowie. You know that. You did it with your dad. Who, by the way, is the only exemption to the rule. I just straight up hate him.”
That made Duncan chuckle.
He stopped when she declared, “Having you back is like having the breath reenter my lungs. And another thing I hate is that we have Corey to thank for that. So I’ll only do that just this once. He’ll only get that gratitude this once. Because in the end, it’s about you and me and who we are and that we’d never quit each other. Not totally.”
She had that right.
Before he could confirm, she kept speaking.
“Thank you for throwing that frog at me, Bowie. It’s been a rough climb, and there are parts of that trail I wish neither of us had been forced to travel, but it was worth it to be right here…with you.”
Right.
He’d given it to her.
Now he was done.
“Get back in this bed, Genny,” he growled.
She came back to bed.
He gathered her close and kissed her hard when she did.
When he was done, she tucked her face in his throat and burrowed closer.
He pulled the covers up to her shoulder to keep her warm.
The room, bright with moonshine on snow, was quiet.
Gen broke it.
“Now, I can let that go and just concentrate on being with you.”
“Good,” he murmured.
“Are you at that place?” she asked.
“Baby, you anywhere near me, I’m at that place. Nothing on this earth means dick to me except my boys bein’ good, now your kids bein’ good, and me bein’ with you.”
She made no response.
Though she did.
And he loved what she had to say.
Without anywhere to go, she burrowed even closer.
“Now, go to sleep,” he ordered when she was done.
“Okay, Bowie.”
“Love you.”
“And I love you.”
Having gotten it out, Gen went right back to sleep.
With her giving it to him, Duncan couldn’t find it.
So he was awake when the moon fell behind a cloud and he lifted his head to see snow falling again.
The roads up at that elevation were going to be a bitch in the morning.
So he’d work from home.
Gen, going out shopping now with Bettina, kept the kitchen stocked.
They were good.
Safe.
And settled in.
On that thought, Duncan finally drifted to sleep.
And the snow drifted down outside.
Blanketing a big log cabin next to an even bigger lake in peace.
Chapter 20
The Best Friends
Corey
* * *
Forty-one years earlier…
* * *
He was in bed, curled up, face stuffed in the pillow, even though he wasn’t crying anymore. He kept it there, so in case he started up again, his father wouldn’t hear him.
It would be bad if his father heard him.
Really bad.
It was usually really bad. Anything and everything at his house could range from not good at all to really bad with the line on that meter pointed most often to the right.
But him being awake and caught having done something as wimpy as crying would be seriously, really, really bad.
It was late and he was supposed to be asleep.
But he couldn’t sleep.
Not after that day.
And that night.
Because, yeah…
It had been bad.
He heard the tap.
A tap on his window.
Ghosts?
Ghosts weren’t corporeal, they couldn’t tap.
Could they?
Maybe…
Zombies?
Oh man.
“Corey,” he heard whispered urgently.
He turned swiftly in bed and saw Dun peering through the window.
When Dun caught his eyes, his friend grinned at him, and then Genny’s head popped around at his side.
She grinned at him too.
What on…?
“Come on,” Duncan whispered.
Quietly, he slipped out of bed and went to the window. Carefully, he shoved it open.
“What are you doing here?”
“Come on,” Duncan repeated. “Mz. Swan is waiting.”