“I hear he’s a good guy. Maybe we should get together in a couple of weeks,” Ryan suggested.
“I’d like that. Did you go by the hospital to visit Fern?”
“Haven’t had a chance yet, but I’m going to. I bet the storm wasn’t easy on her.”
“That’s what I was thinking. If you can, and it’s totally fine if you can’t, would you bring her a balloon from me? Any one you pick out will do,” Ava said, knowing her patient would find it comforting. If there was an easy way for Ava to get back to Dark Canyon she’d try to do it, just to see Fern.
“I’m not sure anyplace is open, but if I can’t get one I’ll tell her you wanted me to bring one. Will that do?”
“Yeah, thanks. Sorry I conned you with the blue M&M’s when we were little and took your birthday money,” she said.
Ryan laughed so hard she was sure that everyone in the fire house could hear him. “What brought that on?”
“Nothing…just realized I wasn’t always the best sister back then.” As an adult she was a little bit horrified at the routine meanness she’d exhibited toward her brother.
“It’s cool. I stole it back from your room while you were sleeping. You were a heavy sleeper.”
“You didn’t.”
“Yup. I told Mom that we counted them, and she told me she’d let you know a week or so earlier that there were always blues.”
“She did. Glad you got your money back,” she said.
“Not that we needed it as kids. Mom and Dad took care of everything,” he said.
“So true. But the scales of justice are balanced,” she said.
“Yup. Take care, sis. See you when you’re back in town,” Ryan said.
“You, too.”
She got off the radio, feeling upbeat as she went around Chay’s house setting it to rights. Putting away all of the supplies she’d assembled for the blizzard. Gracie was busy playing onher blanket. Once the pillow boundary was down, she’d been crawling all over the place.
A little bit Ava wasn’t sure the little girl had realized there was more to the house than her blanket. She found her in the laundry room when she went in there to put the blankets they’d used overnight in the washer.
Scooping the baby up, she carried her back to the living room. Ava noticed the minute she set Gracie down the baby took off again. Laughing as Ava trotted after her.
They played like that for a good thirty minutes, which was tiring and reminded Ava she needed to get to the gym more often.
Finally Gracie showed signs of slowing down and getting tired. Ava gave her a snack and then laid her down for a nap.
She checked her phone for a signal, but there still wasn’t one. She was anxious to know if Chay was okay. Would anyone think to let her know if he got in an accident? She doubted it.
They’d become close over the last few weeks, but their relationship was pretty insular. She’d just mentioned him to Ryan today. Though her mom knew she was seeing him. And Chay’s grandmother, of course, but the wider community wouldn’t.
She’d had a patient once who’d lost her high school boyfriend in an accident. They’d kept their relationship secret, so no one had known how deeply his death had affected her. It still affected her as an adult, which Ava and her patient worked on each week.
Chay was hard on himself about the past but also very accepting of who and where he was. It almost seemed as if it were easier for him to acknowledge his flaws than his strengths. But really, those flaws shaped his strength and made him stronger.
She heard the sound of an engine and hurried to the window, but of course there was just a mountain of snow there. Glancing at her watch, she realized Chay had only been gone a few hours. She’d thought it would be much later when he returned.
She hoped he was okay. Going to get her boots, she peeked in on Gracie sleeping in her crib before she went to the front door and threw it open.
The vehicle behind hers wasn’t Chay’s but looked vaguely familiar. Like that car that had sideswiped her the other day.
Stepping back toward the house as the door opened, she stumbled and tripped as the man got out of the car.
He was tall, but not as tall as Chay. He had thinning brown hair and his face looked older than his years as he came toward her.
