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)
Chip shrugged. “Farther out for the police, too.”
Her head snapped his way at the comment.
Chip didn’t once look away from the river.
If he noticed the reaction or not, the man didn’t give any indication either way. He seemed more interested in the sounds of the late-morning forest and the view of the water down below. He was kind enough to allow Malachi to extend an invitation to the lodge for the weekend, but her unfamiliarity with the man her lover called a friend still left Gracen with questions.
She couldn't help it.
Or stop herself from asking, “So how did you and Malachi meet?”
“A few years ago. At the big job fair,” Chip returned, reaching for the cup of water to his left on a log table.
“The one in the fall?”
“Miramichi puts it together every year,” the man agreed.
She’d heard of it. Everything from hospitals to the food factories, mills, contractors and even laborers showed up to rent a table and put up a few displays required to describe their business and opportunity for those seeking employment.
“I was two years into opening my company,” Chip said after a long drink. The glass clinked when he sat it back down to the table. “In desperate need of a handful of guys I could count on to show up, be sober, and do good work without me being on their ass twenty-four seven.” His attention swung her way when he asked, “You know what I mean? Malachi said you’ve got a salon—good employees can be hard to find.”
“Sometimes,” she agreed. “I’ve been pretty lucky.”
It definitely helped that Delaney and Margot—plus the occasional students that came in to earn their practical hours—had a reason to keep the place going at top speed. Together, it worked. She couldn’t say putting someone else in one of their places would have had the same effect, and she had no intention in testing the theory out.
Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
“Anyway,” Chip said, his hand cutting through the air between them, “Malachi was a few months out of the failed basic training stint for the Army by then—didn’t have shit and a bad couple of weeks had left him without a job.” He smiled fondly, adding, “Malachi’s not hard to like. It was just shit luck that we met up that day. I’d talked to fifteen other guys before him, I should have closed down my table and made the calls to the ones I liked. I could have been in a bar and well on my way to being drunk by the time he walked into the fair.”
“But you stayed?”
Chip nodded once. “It just didn’t feel right unless I did.”
Gracen’s brow lifted high, but she tried to hide the tic with a sip from her coffee.
Chip didn’t miss it. “What? Something I said surprised you?”
Right on the money.
Even if Gracen hated to admit it. “I didn’t know he tried to join the Canadian Armed Forces.”
Chip’s jaw worked like he was chewing on something but just five seconds before, the muscles had been still. Eventually, he asked, “He never mentioned it, or ...?”
“I guess it hasn’t come up. It wouldn’t be because he doesn’t want to explain why he had to leave, right?” Gracen asked.
Chip cleared his throat and it changed into a low laugh. “I mean—”
“Actually, let me ask him.”
“Fair enough. Although, for what it counts, he’s spent a long time working hard to put his past behind him. It’s not hard to see he’s done the work.”
True.
There was a lot unknown between Malachi and Gracen, though. She didn’t want to come right out and say as much. It wasn’t exactly an appropriate conversation for a first-time meeting, right? Enjoying everything that was great and good on the surface between the two of them had been easier as they fell deeper into this hole together. She worried what would happen when it was time to crawl back out.
Chip pulled his glasses back down to the bridge of his nose and settled into the reclining chair once more with the glass of water resting just below his chest. She didn’t miss the way he peeked over at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, before he said, “You know, I’ve got another one of these.”
Gracen met his stare, then. “What, the lodge?”
He nodded, smirking. “The other one’s in Banff.”
“Alberta,” she deadpanned.
“Hell of a view of the mountains.”
Wow.
How much money did this man have?
“You’re in construction, right?” Gracen asked.
Chip didn’t answer, asking instead, “Would you want to see the other one, too? It’s better in the winter, though.”
She froze at the question, but the fact that he stared her right in the face made Gracen hyper aware of her reaction. Careful, she showed no surprise at the come on, and delivered her rejection with the same respect, saying, “Sure, if I’m going with Malachi.”