Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Gracen blinked up at the huge tower overhead, absorbing what Malachi was trying to tell her. She just wanted to be clear. “You’re heading back?”
Was that home for him?
She didn’t really know, so she chose not to say.
“Yeah,” Malachi said, the word sure and confident but his tone still came off stressed. “Before I make myself a problem here, it’s better to just head on out.”
“Did you go to the engagement dinner?”
“Yes and no.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Gracen pointed out.
Malachi sighed on the other end of the phone. “I went, but I doubt anybody saw or knew I was there. I don’t want to give people a reason to start a problem. It could make things worse for other people as a consequence, and I can’t justify that. As it stands, I shouldn’t have come back here in the first place. I wasn’t actually ready to.”
No wonder he was itching to get away, then. She would try not to fault him, even if she wished he could have given her a face-to-face goodbye instead of a phone call. Maybe this was easier. She’d try not to fault him for that, either.
“Did you see your sister?” she asked.
“I think I will at some point,” he returned.
Gracen wondered how fragile and sticky the situation with his family truly was, but she couldn’t find the words to express that she could be a safe place for him to dump those secrets keeping him hostage. She wasn’t sure he even wanted to.
“Anyway,” Malachi said, his voice lulling Gracen back into the conversation easily despite the clear road she saw it taking. “I was wondering ...”
“Yeah?”
“Could I call you? I can’t say when or if I’m even coming back to town in the near future, if I’m being honest,” he added quickly.
“Were you ever not?”
He chuckled, then. “No, I guess not.”
One of the things she liked best about Malachi was that he’d been upfront with her from the start. At least, when it came to things between the two of them. There were no fronts. The guy didn’t play with her feelings. They had easy conversation and a couple of good nights together because they both knew exactly that they were getting from this.
“And yes, okay? Call me just to talk. Anytime, Malachi.”
So it was clear.
Couldn’t they be friends?
Benefits would have to wait.
“Drive safe,” Gracen said. “I hear the Renous is bad for moose.”
“I’ll let you know when I’ve made it safely across. How’s that?”
Good enough for her, she told him.
“Have a beautiful night, blue eyes,” he said before they ended the call, “and for what it’s worth?”
“Yeah?”
“You were the best part of me being back here.”
*
Gracen replayed Malachi’s parting words on repeat for her entire jog home. After that, even. Delaney was home when she arrived, and while Gracen engaged her friend in conversation through their nightly routine, her mind stayed with the man on his way to Miramichi.
There was no way to deny it. She missed him—for absolutely no reason at all—already, and he was barely even gone.
As expected, Delaney’s night was less than stellar. So the girls enjoyed wine and binged a season of their latest favorite television series, closed out the world and the noise, and made the best of the rest of the evening.
While she might regret the late time in the morning, it was well after twelve-thirty before Gracen slid under her duvet’s cover. She’d been almost asleep, lounging in that blissful barely aware state before slumber, when the beep of her phone had her wide awake.
Just long enough to see the message from Malachi.
Just got into service. Talk soon.
Gracen had no trouble falling into a quick, deep sleep after that. The person she missed was hours and hours away, but her heart still felt like it was in a good place. Shouldn’t that count for something?
Barely a couple of hours after Gracen closed her eyes, the wail of a siren pulled her back into consciousness. Lights flashed behind their window shades as Delaney and Gracen stumbled out of their rooms with oversized housecoats hiding their nightclothes.
It didn’t take them long to find the reason for the sirens.
The noise.
The fire.
By the time the girls stumbled out of their house and into the front street where cops and firefighters were already waiting to usher them across to the river boardwalk, a crowd had also started to gather. Checkered & Cheese lit up the night sky—engulfed from the blown out front windows to the high apartment overhead.
“What happened?” Delaney asked the closest familiar face in the crowd.
It just so happened to be Malachi’s friend.
Nader.
The guy worked a lot, as far as Gracen knew. He spent more time away at work-provided lodging during the week, and on occasional weekends. The old muscle car that still had a long way to go to reach its former glory was his money pit, according to Malachi. She was reminded of that while staring at Nader’s horrified expression reflecting the destructive blaze.