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Chapter

Sixteen

ASHER

Something inside of Asher had shifted when he was on that picnic blanket. He was done fighting this, and he wished he’d given over to it soon. Nothing felt as good as Sunshine Palmer. Nothing.

While in the meadow, Asher had a feeling he couldn’t shake, like someone was on the mountain who shouldn’t have been. While it wasn’t unheard of for the trees to move on their own accord, it certainly wasn’t common. That was why he had shifted, but even during, it was no more than a sense of intrusion.

He would check in with Abe later and see what he thought, but as they walked up to Sunny’s house, there was a note shoved into the crack of the door.

“What’s that?” Sunny asked.

Asher was one step ahead of her, climbing the stairs.

This better not be a note from the coal company again.

Asher pulled the note from the door and let out a breath. “It’s a note inviting up to dinner at Abe’s.”

“Oh, that would be nice. Just let me run this in, and we can head up.”

Before he knew it, they were on their way up to the cabin. Violent Femmes was in his CD player, but Sunny picked up his book of discs and flipped through them. Just like he thought, she swapped the album for Joni Mitchell.

“I love Joni.”

The soft soprano of Joni Mitchell filled the air as Sunny let her hand hang out the window, letting the wind curve her wave.

The subtle perfection of moments like this were what made life worth living, he’d always thought.

He’d always been a simple guy, finding beauty in the world around him. Some of that left when Sunny did, but it was back, and so was she. He took one hand off the steering wheel and put it on her thigh, pulling her closer along the bench seat.

They turned up the little gravel road that led up to Abe’s cabin. When they pulled in, they spotted Bridget’s purple VW bus.

“Is that Bridget?”

“Yeah,” Asher said as he put the truck into park. “Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this,” she said before hopping out.

He walked around the truck, and the sight of the big smile stretched across her face squeezed his heart. They climbed the stairs hand in hand before he opened the door.

Julie and Bridget sat at the table looking at a book, with Ruby doing her homework next to them, while Abe was cooking in the kitchen. This scene before him, with Sunny by his side, was like a dream come true.

This is how it always should have been. Only, one person was missing. Esther. But that was a problem for later. She’d been acting strange ever since she showed up on the mountain last fall. No matter what Abe or Asher said, she would not talk about what had happened in Tennessee.

He figured Abe would drag it out of her sooner or later.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Julie said, greeting them with a smile.

“Thank you for inviting me for dinner,” Sunny said.

“Nonsense. You’re family. You’re welcome anytime.”

“Ruby, will you set the table?” Abe asked.

“Sure thing,” she said as she popped up and cleared her homework.

Abe brought a platter to the table filled with burgers before bringing over a cast-iron skillet full of fried potatoes. Before long, they were all sharing a meal.