Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 136507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 683(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 683(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
But so far, there’s been nothing helpful among the boxes. Old football helmets and sports trophies, G.I. Joe figurines and WWF wrestling dolls, band T-shirts and yearbooks, loose four-by-six photos of Jay’s grade eight school camping trip, and scraps of movie stubs and receipts that are so faded, they don’t show anything anymore. Annie really did save everything.
Holt’s gaze drifts back to Logan, now carrying Macy as he does laps around the rink, gliding smoothly as if no time has passed since he last wore skates. “You know, I’ve been thinking about Clive a lot lately.”
Mention of my dad swells a knot in my throat. He and Holt were best of friends for years, until that fateful night. They remained friends after, but it was a relationship fraught with tension, regret, and judgment. “Why is that?”
Holt’s mouth works over his words. “Because, for the first time in a long time, I think we’re all gonna be okay. And Clive would’ve liked to have seen that.” He pats the top of the rink’s boards. “Better drive out to the market to see how the ladies are doin’.” He steps away but then falters. “You two be careful, you hear?”
I nod.
With that, he’s gone, ambling down the cleared path through the snow.
Duke ambles by my side when I arrive at the garage that night.
Logan is shuffling around boxes inside. He looks up briefly, his eyes touching me for a split second. “Hey. This one’s got a pile of old papers. No idea what’s inside, but we can go through it upstairs where it’s warm. I’ve had enough of being outside today.” He doesn’t wait for my answer, swiftly carrying the box up the stairs.
“Hello to you too,” I murmur, following him to the warmth of his apartment. Duke trails me, heading for his customary spot by the flaming woodstove. That dog has spent almost as much time here as I have.
“How was work?” Logan drops the box on the kitchen counter.
I shake off my boots and shuck my coat. “Pretty quiet, until we got this call to the Bale House because a girl with a nut allergy forgot her—”
Logan’s mouth collides with mine, cutting off my words with an almost frantic kiss. “Tell me after,” he pulls away to whisper, kicking the door shut before his strong hands seize my waist. “It’s been three days. I can’t wait another second.”
“I forgot Jay got his welding certificate.” I study the college paperwork from my horizontal position on the couch.
Logan’s focus is divided between the pages in his grip and a rare Friday night Leafs game on TV. Music plays over the Bluetooth speaker that I taught him to use after insisting we needed to listen to something recorded after the mid-2000s. “That was the only way he was allowed to live here after high school. He didn’t want to help around the ranch, so my dad told him to either do something useful with his life or get the fuck out.”
I toss the page into the burn pile on the floor beside the couch. “I think this box is a bust.” It’s full of report cards and Player of the Game certificates, the kind of stuff a kid hands off to their mother to keep or toss.
“I think you’re right.” Logan drops his pages after mine and sinks back.
I admire his sculpted bare chest. “Aren’t you cold?” I redressed in my sweatshirt and joggers, but all Logan reached for were his track pants, and they sit deliciously low on his hips.
“No.” He collects my bare feet in his hands and begins kneading away at small aches I didn’t know I had. “Where’s Isla tonight?”
“At a party. Her friend Cody came to get her.”
Logan’s eyebrow arches. “Boyfriend Cody?”
I smile. “No, friend. Though I don’t think he’d mind being more.”
“Does she know that?”
“Not a clue.” I’ve seen the way he looks at her when he thinks no one’s watching; I’ve noticed how he’d come to all her games when she was playing in Cold River. She assumed it was because he had a thing for Holly who was also there, but I knew that wasn’t it.
“So, I guess you can’t stay here tonight then?” There’s no missing the disappointment in his tone.
“I should be home when she gets there.” I reach into the box, collecting another stack to flip through, finding orthodontist paperwork. “Oh, right! Jay had braces!”
“Yeah, his teeth were fucked. He had that extra row.” Logan filters through another stack, a page at a time with one hand while his other continues rubbing my foot.
“Holt’s figured it out.”
His hands stall. “Figured what out?”
“What we’re doing with Jay’s stuff.”
“Oh.” He continues his scanning and tossing.
“And I think this too.” I punctuate my meaning by sliding my foot back and forth gently over his groin, feeling him harden under my touch. “But definitely about Jay. You sure you don’t want to clue him in?”