Fern appeared in the small doorway of the henhouse. “You took so long to get eggs that I worried you’d been cornered.” Her sharp eyes taking in everything—the lone egg in Evie’s basket, the suspicious hen, and the telltale wet streaks on Evie’s face. Fern didn’t miss a thing. “What’s happened?”
Evie quickly ducked her head, brushing away another tear. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just that hen over there. She keeps pecking at me and it hurts.” She lifted a hand to show some small bloody marks left by that horrible hen. She sniffed back her tears, but that just let more out.
Fern’s gaze didn’t waver. Without a word, she walked over to the hen, who squawked in protest as she scooped her up, holding her close to her chest. “This one will end up in the chicken pot tonight,” she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Evie’s eyes widened in alarm. “I didn’t mean you had to kill her!”
Fern looked down at the hen, stroking her feathers with a tenderness that didn’t quite match her words. “She’s not laying anymore. It’s time for her.” Then she turned to Evie, fixing her with a steady gaze. “Es is en Zeit fer alles.”
There’s a time for everything.
Evie swallowed hard, feeling the weight of those words settle over her. Just an hour ago, she had asked God to give her some idea of what she should do. It was new to her, this asking, but she was really trying not to be half a Christian. She hadn’t expected such a speedy response.There’s a timefor everything.
It was probably what she needed to hear. Darcy had already delivered her same old advice in a slightly different package: “It’s easier to accept Charlie and Wren now,” she’d said during a quick phone call today, “before it has a chance to hurt.”
But it already hurt.
Thirty minutes later, Evie stepped down the farmhouse’s porch steps, clutching a single letter. As she crossed the grass to head toward the mailbox, she spotted Charlie in the pasture, patting one of the horses. She faltered, her steps slowing to a stop. Charlie turned and saw her, then did a double take. He walked toward her, but when he reached her, there was a long silence, as if both of them expected the other to speak up first.
He broke the silence. “I was just heading out for a run.” He noticed the letter in her hand. “Want me to put that in the mailbox for you?”
“Sure, thanks.” As she handed it to him, her fingers brushed against his as he took it, and she felt a tiny tingle. How was that possible? Her heart kept ignoring her head.
As he took the envelope, he glanced at the address. “Who do you know in Alaska?”
“Only one person. Another traveling nurse.” Evie hesitated to say more, then decided it was fortuitous. “But that’ll change soon.” She wanted him to feel a sting.
Weirdly, it worked.
Charlie’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”
“That’s my application for my next traveling nurse assignment,” she said, watching his reaction closely.
He lifted the envelope a few inches in the air. “Alaska?”
“Yes.”
“An application?”
“Yes. They’re old school in this part of Alaska. Everything has to be in paper. Sounds like their Wi-Fi can be unreliable.”
“You’re leaving?” Charlie sounded a little stunned, as if trying to make sense of her words.
“Assuming they offer me a traveling nurse contract. I think they will.” Darcy said they were desperate for nurses.
“You’re just ... done here?”
“Yep,” she said. Really, really done with pining after him. Inher head, anyway. Her heart hadn’t caught up yet. Even being this close to him was causing her heart to start pounding.
“But why?”
“For one thing, my contract will be up soon,” she said, trying to sound casual despite the mix of emotions swirling inside her.
He regarded her with inquiring eyes, his head slightly tilted. “So you want to go to Alaska ... for the winter?”
Evie hesitated. Wintering in Alaska hadn’t really occurred to her. “That’s the plan,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “It’ll be an adventure.” That’s what Darcy kept advising her—pursue adventure! Like it was a thing to be captured.
Charlie started to say something, but then he noticed the mail truck coming down the road. “Let me take care of this for you,” he said, and jogged down the driveway with the letter in hand. She saw him chatting with the mailman, so she turned and made her way back to the farmhouse, feeling a little deflated. He could’ve tried a little harder to stop her.
She let out a sigh. It only confirmed to her that it was the right decision to go.
Es is en Zeit feralles.There’s a time for everything.
Time for her to leave Stoney Ridge and Charlie behind. Clueless Charlie.
