Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“You make it work, push through, keep on,” Delaney said like an echo continuing Gracen’s internal thoughts. “Stop doing that. Deal with things, take time to do it, too. You have to take care of you first, and then maybe worry about everybody else.”
She equally loved and hated that her friend could be right on the money when it counted; reading people was a skill held by the most special beings. Gracen would swear on it.
“I’ll even call for your cancellations,” Delaney said, offering her final words on the matter as she gathered her bag and sweater.
“Fine, I’ll take the weekend,” Gracen said, earning a thumbs up from Delaney, “but I’m not making any plans. Frankly, I could use the extra sleep.”
And wine.
Or more No Boats on Sunday rosé.
“Don’t make plans, then. Do nothing. That’s fine, too. Eat junk and binge something on TV,” Delaney replied. “The point is it’s gotta be about taking care of you. And then admit to yourself it’s a sad situation that you need a whole speech from your friends to get you to accept some self-care, Gracen.”
Gracen sighed loudly in her station chair.
“It’ll go a long way,” Delaney added, ready to lock up with her bag and shawl. The only thing left was to shut off the lights and set the main alarm. “Margot, let’s go!”
“Yep!”
Footsteps beat a fast path down the staircase until Margot stood on the bottom floor with her own bag slung over her shoulder. “I’ll get the basket tomorrow.”
Delaney waited for Gracen to move. “Are we still wallowing, or ...?”
Gracen had yet to leave the chair, but her purse was just a reach away. “What time does the liquor store close on Fridays?”
*
Gracen didn’t make it to the liquor store. In fact, Delaney had barely locked the door while waving off a walking Margot—who refused a drive from them every night—before her phone dinged with a text.
Stupid question, it read from Malachi, but are you free this weekend?
She’d called him instantly.
“Why is that a stupid question?” she asked the second he picked up the phone.
“Beautiful, all you do is work,” he returned just as fast.
Didn’t even miss a beat.
“I do more than just work,” Gracen tried to argue weakly while Delaney pointedly glared her way and nodded as if to say see, I told you so. “I have a life, too.”
This shit was getting tiring.
“Yes, you run and take amazing pictures, and eat a lot of good food with your friends,” Malachi said. All true things. “You do other stuff, too, I know, but the majority of your time is spent at that salon. Which is also fine—there’s not one thing wrong with being devoted to your work.”
“Thank you. Could you tell Delaney and Margot that, too? I’ll text you their numbers.”
Malachi chuckled. “I take it I’m not the only person to bring this up to you?”
“Nope,” she muttered.
“If I were to play devil’s advocate,” Malachi said, “when was the last time you took off a week or more?”
“A week?” Gracen parroted. “More?”
Never.
“Weekend?” he offered back.
Jesus.
Even that was kind of hard to answer.
“Okay, so maybe it wasn’t such a stupid question,” Gracen muttered into the phone as she followed Delaney toward the waiting Jeep.
“Are we going to the liquor store?” Delaney asked.
“Not if you’re driving to meet up with me,” Malachi said into Gracen’s ear, clearly hearing Delaney’s question in the background.
“Who said anything about meeting up with you?”
“With who?” Delaney asked, attention perked. “Who are we meeting up with?”
Dammit.
“Me, not you,” Gracen explained, and waved a hand to ask for a second.
Malachi was talking again.
“My boss has a hunting lodge out by Mount Carleton,” he said. “In the area, anyway. I’m heading there now because he guilt tripped me into a weekend.”
“But what does that have to do with mine?”
“He’s bringing somebody—and then mentioned I could do the same. Honestly, it’s just tonight, tomorrow, and we leave late Sunday morning, but you were the only person I thought of when he brought it up. It’s halfway for both of us, basically.”
But still a two-hour drive.
Gracen had made the trip to the mountain before and took the rural highway leading through it when traveling further to the Miramichi.
“What’s going on?” Delaney mouthed to Gracen across the vehicle.
She ignored her friend.
Life never just fell into place for Gracen. The universe didn’t work in her favor like this. It took real effort for her to push past the suspicion and anxiety building in her heart that something bad was on the horizon because for a second, she felt good.
“Believe it or not,” Gracen told Malachi, “but my weekend recently freed up.”
Across the hood of the Jeep, Delaney grinned wide.
On the phone, Malachi said, “I’ll text you the address.”
Chapter 18
The lodge in Nictau wasn’t quite as far out in the boonies as Gracen had initially suspected. But it might as well be. She’d driven to Mount Carleton’s national park to hike with friends more than a handful of times, so it wasn’t a new area to her. Usually in the daytime, however. Things probably looked a lot more familiar to her with the sun high in the sky than it did with the moon illuminating the rural road.