Sophie stared at the phone cradled in her hands, willing the reception to return as Cadence drove north. Signal was hit or miss the entire drive until they reached the outskirts of Anchorage, making the yearning to text Denver stronger than ever. Sophie’d resisted bugging him all morning, convinced this day apart was what they needed for things to go back to normal between them. But now, robbed of any bars, she desperately wanted to reach out. To tell him about her terrifying encounter. She longed for his reassurance, even if it came in humor.Maybe he could put it in a book.
“Soph, you all right back there?” She briefly met Cadence’s gaze in the rearview mirror and offered her a half smile. From the passenger seat, Rilee looked over her shoulder, too. Sophie didn’t care to have so much attention directed at her. She yearned to lie down on the seat and bury her head under her jacket.
The bear encounter had her more spooled up than she liked to admit.
“I’m fine. Just tired from my run.” She’d left out the detail about the bear, not wanting to cause any alarm. The creature was more than two miles from the lodge, deep in the woods. He posed no threat to them. No need to alarm anyone or let them know just how rattled she still was by it all.
“Wasn’t it three miles today?” Cadence asked.
“I might have done five.”
“What does Denver think about that?”
Leaning her head against the window, Sophie stared out at the snowcapped mountains. Winter was only a few weeks away, but she didn’t mind. Caroline loved the snow, and Sophie loved any excuse to wear a scarf. “Didn’t tell him.”
“Don’t you think you should follow his training schedule? The man has completed and nearly won three marathons, you know,” Cadence continued her gentle lecture. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself next week.”
Sophie gave an innocent shrug. “I like running.” It wasn’t a lie, but she wasn’t going to give her sisters a reason to worry about her wellbeing. She was fine. Life had thrown her some curveballs this week, but she was handling them.
“I’m only running if something chases me,” Rilee chimed in, easing the tension in the car. “And even then, if I can climb a tree, I’m doing that.”
Relieved for the conversation shift, Sophie asked, “Are you excited to get back to Boston, or you think you’ll miss small-town life?”
“I know Ford hates Boston,” Rilee answered. “But I love the city. There’s always something to do, things to see.”
“She’s now a Red Sox fan,” Cadence added. “Didn’t even know she liked baseball.”
Even faced forward, Sophie caught the slightest blush on Rilee’s cheeks. Sophie knew that blush. She wore it often at Rilee’s age. It meant a boy was involved. Or in Sophie’s case, it was a surgeon. She tried to hide the sigh that slipped out. The world had seemed such a wide-open adventure at nineteen, Rilee’s age now. “It’s great to experience new things,” Sophie said, careful to keep her advice optimistic. “Just don’t change who you are for someone else. If you change, do it for yourself.”
“I know,” said Rilee.
Sophie should stop, but she found it hard to silence the wisdom she’d gained. “I gave up running when I met my ex-husband. He thought it was a waste of time, and I was too naïve to stand up for myself.”
“I didn’t know that,” Cadence said softly.
“Blake was handsome, charming, and rich.” Sophie stared at Rilee. “Those are the kind you have to watch you for. But you’re a smart girl. Much smarter than I was at nineteen. Kind of have to be to be an investigator, don’t you?”
“Will isn’t like that,” Rilee said with confidence. “He’s a good one. Besides, we’re just friends right now.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Cadence added.
Sophie’s phone buzzed in her lap, thirty miles earlier than expected. It wasn’t until she felt Rilee staring at her that she realized how quickly she’d snapped her attention away from their conversation and to the phone.
Denver:Is a third body too much?
Finally, something normal. Or at least, she tried to tell herself, receiving a text from Denver about his book was completely normal. Never mind the hammering of her heart in her chest. “Denver’s writing,” she explained.
Seeing his name on her screen left her sad that she wouldn’t make Thursday dinner tonight. She’d grown so used to the routine that to forego it felt . . . wrong somehow.It’s necessary. To get things back to the way they were.
She started the tradition after the first snowfall last winter. Denver had been constantly giving her rides, helping move furniture, taking Caroline sledding, and even on occasion assisted her with laundry when she was overwhelmed. He wouldn’t let her pay him for his time, so she found the next best thing.
Turned out Denver loved to eat. He was an amazing cook, when he made time for it. But when a story called to him, he’d go days living on boxed macaroni and cheese.
With Caroline’s obsession with cooking since her Aunty Tessa invited her into the kitchen last summer, it was the perfect excuse to repay him for his kindness, with leftovers aplenty, and keep that boundary established between them.
Sophie:Has Malcom ever found three bodies before?
Denver:No.
