Page 15 of Gideon

Beth’s response was sharp. “Nikki, where are your manners. He’s our guest.”

Nikki’s lips flattened. “Right.” The look she gave him was hard to read. “Sorry. Welcome, Gideon. It’s lovely to see you again.”

“You remember Nikki?” Beth said.

“I didn’t at first, no. She was very young last time I saw her.”

The boiling water whistled, and Beth busied herself with the mugs.

“Why are you here?” Nikki said quietly.

“I came to see your dad. I hadn’t heard that he passed away. I’m sorry. He was a really good man.”

“Here you go.” Beth set a steaming mug on the table in front of him. “Nikki, did you want one?”

“No. I’m going to have a shower and get changed.”

“Did you enjoy your run?”

“Yeah. It was fine.” She looked at Gideon. “Excuse me.”

Beth sat at the table. “She loves her runs, but sometimes I worry she pushes herself too hard. It’s good to escape, but you have to deal with things eventually.” A dark shadow clouded her face, then was gone. “And what have you been up to? I heard you were doing something with the military.”

“Yeah, that, uh—” If only Thomas had been around to talk to. Gideon hadn’t thought about everyone in town hearing what he’d told his dad, and now he didn’t know what to do with the rumors that had spread. “Not much to report. I spoke to Noah, and he told me about my dad having a stroke, so I came to see how he was doing.”

“How is Noah?”

“Still in prison.”

“Is he handling it okay?”

“He’s come to terms with it. He knows he deserves to be there.”

“That’s a tough break, though. I don’t imagine he meant to kill that young man.”

“No, but those are the consequences of his drunken brawl.”

“You two have had such a hard life. I don’t know what you and Thomas spoke about, but I know you had it tough.”

“A lot of people have. From what I see around Asher, things aren’t good here now either.”

Her hands slipped off her mug and into her lap. “No. Things haven’t been good for a long time.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine. There’s not much that can be done about it.”

“It looks like you’re making the most of your garden in the backyard, though. How do you keep it so green?”

Beth’s face softened at the mention of the garden. “It is lovely, isn’t it?”

“Are you the one with the green thumb? Or is that Nikki?”

“Oh no, Nikki is terrible at gardening. I won’t let her near my plants except to weed. Would you like to have a look?”

“I’d love to.”

“This way.”

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