Page 116 of Falling Too Late

Dan had aged considerably since Alex’s fictitious death. The stubble on his face was practically pure white. He seemed shorter now, with more wrinkles around his eyes.

And that was it. Several of the others who recognized him all surrounded Alex, talking over each other. I only relaxed when a smile broke across Alex’s face.

See, Alex, no one forgot about you.

CHAPTER 42

ALEX

When we got back home,I opened the back of the SUV and King barreled out and disappeared around the side of the house. “I’m going to go see if I can get my truck running.” I pulled out a box of things from the back of the SUV.

“Okay.” Wren sounded disappointed.

I walked over and kissed her cheek, before heading down the path to the shop.

I pulled the tarp off the truck and popped the hood. I had figured at the very least the battery needed to be replaced, fresh gas and an oil change.

For some reason, Wren really had kept everything from the old house. I found the old radio and plugged it in, putting on a station that wasn’t pure static and cranked it up. I needed to get out of my own head.

Seeing everyone today was jarring. There wasn’t one person who was disappointed in my “miraculous resurrection.” Everyone had been happy to see me. In any other universe, it would be great.

But it wasn’t what I’d expected.

Manual labor was what I needed. I got lost in digging around the old shop, surprised that there were as many tools as there were. It was an old building, the concrete not quite level, and if you didn’t pay attention you could trip. I was able to change the oil, siphon out the gas, and put in new gas. I installed the battery last.

I opened the roll-up door and, as I did, I spotted Wren heading down the driveway with King and Queen in tow. Queen stopped when she heard the door. I had locked her out, not wanting to worry about her getting into any of the chems I had laying around. She was about ready to head my way when a high-pitched whistle sounded, and she continued to follow Wren.

Absently, I wondered what she was doing, but assumed she was just going for a walk. I loved how she had so much space to just be herself in. We took lots of walks growing up, but we never really walked far. Always to the same grove or along the canal. Avoiding people the best we could.

Now she could walk as far and as long as she wanted, and it was on the safety of her own property.

I climbed into the truck and turned the engine over. It cranked but sputtered out.

“Come on,” I muttered. I pumped the gas a few more times before it finally rumbled to life.

“Ah ha!” I let it idle and hopped out, closing the hood. I dug around the shop a little more and found a few old rags, went outside to the spigot, filling a bucket up with water and wiping the dust off the windows and mirrors. It needed a thorough cleaning, but this was good enough.

I heard the screen door open and slam shut. Glancing out of the shop, Queen was barreling toward me with something shoved under her collar.

Pizza up at the house.

I grinned at Wren’s messaging tactic. I found an old contractor’s pencil and wrote back under her line.

Be up in a bit.

I told Queen to head back to the house and she did, King meeting her halfway. I pulled the truck out of the shop and carefully drove it to the driveway, taking it out for a quick spin and listened to see if there was anything else I needed to do to it.

It was dark by the time I got back to the house. I hadn’t meant to drive as long as I did, but once I got out onto the main road and rolled the windows down, I just kept on driving to the edge of the county line.

What would happen if we left Ashwood?

Leaving was tempting. I wondered what Wren would say to that.

I was quickly realizing she had more ties to this place than I did. She had friends. A family even. A group of people who looked out for her and loved her. She had more than just Ma and I.

Thinking of all the time I missed made me angry.

I turned the truck off and got out. The screen door squeaked, reminding me to take care of it.

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