Inglorious snorted beside me, and I ignored him.
She was holding back her emotions, and I didn’t think she was as steady as she pretended. Nobody would blame her if she broke down and cried. She’d lost her best friend, someone like a sister to her. They’d been sitting at the same table, and mere inches had made the difference between life and death. That wasa difficult and heartbreaking fact to rationalise. It didn’t bear thinking about.
Amy
For a few hours, I was immersed in Merritt. The town was charming, and the restoration was stunning; the buildings looked like they’d been built new and were original. Well, I suppose they were original but rebuilt. Whatever.
The accomplishments impressed me. At the beginning of Main Street, close to the car parks, was a huge theatre. Vortex explained that it hadn’t been restored yet, but they planned to give it a dual use. They’d have movies playing and also let stage shows use it. Adjacent to the theatre, on its left-hand sidewalk, sat an unopened gift shop. Following this was a handyman slash outdoor supply store, a dentist, another empty shop, a fried chicken takeaway, and the next had caused some consternation.
Nanci had strongly advocated for opening an Unwanted Bastards MC merchandise shop. Mugs, tees, sweaters, and stuff like that. None of us expected it to sell, but she insisted it would and pointed out the popular Rage MC Store. Inglorious had agreed to try it to shut Nanci up. Next to that was a hairdresser’s, which wasn’t restored either, and in the middle was a huge hotel.
Vortex mentioned it had already been booked solid through to March, which surprised me considering the weather they’d get up here. He then explained they were running a winter camp, including skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing in the stream, and many other activities. It sounded great to me. Next to the hotel was a saloon for tourists, an open chocolate store, and a Chinese takeaway.
I peered into the stable and was amazed to see it had stalls with horses inside. “Huh,” I murmured, bemused.
“Everyone rides here, and if we don’t, then we’re taught to. We’ll use the horses for horse trekking and similar things.” Vortex replied.
“I enjoy riding,” I admitted, and Vortex looked surprised. “Didn’t think I could?”
“No, as an army brat, I was thinking you wouldn’t have much choice,” he replied.
“I didn’t until Papa set down roots. Then Dad made me go riding,” I said.
Next to the stable was a blacksmith, which Vortex also explained hadn’t been restored yet. Then, separate from the other buildings, was the sheriff’s office, complete with gallows out back.
“Damn, is that original?” I gasped.
“Yeah. There are some stocks, although they fell out of use around the time the town burned,” Vortex said, pointing to them in the corner.
“Holy crap, I never would have guessed. I always linked them to medieval times.”
Vortex chuckled. “History shows they were big in the Wild West, but they were used to petty crimes. Steal a loaf of bread and end up on display for the townspeople to see. It was a novel way of policing the community.”
“You can say that again. How about we tell Nanci to put Chill in them?”
Vortex smirked.
I stared at the second hotel that stood in the middle of the two sides of the street. “It’s beautiful.”
“Took a lot of work. The fire had ravaged this. I’d say most of it is rebuilt from pictures. Very little remained of the original structure.”
“Such a shame, but it’s been wonderfully done,” I said.
I dragged Vortex across the dirt road and onto the wooden walkway. The first shopfront was a liquor store, and it was fully stocked. Next to it would be a cigar shop, but it was waiting for restoration. The next two buildings were similar, and Vortex explained that one would be a laundry and the other a clothing store. After them were a jeweller and a pizza takeaway. There was a coaching inn which, while maintaining the outside, inside held two fire engines to my surprise.
“Yeah, we’re very wary of fire up here. One spark could destroy the entire town,” Vortex explained.
“I can understand why.”
Next to the coaching inn was the clubhouse, which had also been a saloon slash hotel. Besides that was a restaurant, then a post office. There were a couple of shops that hadn’t been restored, then a candy store, a toy shop, and then a hire store. Separated from them was a doctor’s clinic.
“You’ve got everything you need to make a thriving town,” I said.
“Yeah, and no chain stores are allowed here. We own the buildings, and we rent them out. However, some are businesses that we’ve opened and hired staff for.”
“Where’s the school?”
“Behind the shops. Come on.” Vortex ducked down an alley between the hire store and clinic and led me down a treelined path.
