Page 182 of Ice Mechanic

“So did he come home right after that?”

“Nope. Took a lot more months until I saw him again.” She gazes softly at the glass. “But this waiting period was different. This time, I wrote those letters with joy in my heart.”

“Are you saying… you weren’t happy before that scare?”

Mauve sets the glass on the shelf. “I never told Bobby outright, but I’d resented the fact that he joined the army. He’d always talked about doing it, but I just… I felt blindsided. How dare he make me love him so much, make him such a part of my daily life, and then just disappear?”

“Exactly.” I sit up a little straighter. “It’s so selfish.”

“Very much so.” Mauve’s strong voice trembles with laughter.

I realize she’s making fun of me and glance down at my tea.

“But,” Mauve taps a dark finger on the bar counter, “after I stopped getting those letters, my entire perspective changed. I was the girlfriend of a soldier. There wasn’t no changing that. Bobby wasn’t with me, but he still made all that effort to write as much as he could. Those letters meant he was pulling through. Those letters meant he was thinking of me. Those letters meant he was coming back to me. And in the end, I’d rather have those letters and know he’s alive than to not have Bobby at all.”

Her words tangle in my mind. “It just… doesn’t seem fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. We can’t always get what we want when we want it. Now this isn’t saying to put up with nonsense. At times,we do have to let people go if they aren’t good for us. But when we find the people who…”

“Write love letters in war?” I supply.

“Yeah.” Mauve laughs. Then she glances at the television and back at me with a knowing grin. “When you find your person, sometimes, you gotta let them love you from afar until they can come home.”

At her words, the clouds in my heart start to clear. I look back over everything I’ve been through with Chance and determination wells within me.

We’ve fought to be together.

We’ve come this far.

Like Mauve said, I’d rather have his texts, calls and video chats until he can come home. And that might come with some adjustments, I’m sure… but I want this to work.

“Can you excuse me? I need to make a call,” I say, slipping out of the bar stool.

Mauve just smiles knowingly.

As I’m about to dial Chance, my phone lights up with an incoming call instead.

It’s the nursing home.

I put the phone to my ear, still looking at Mauve. “Hello, how can I help?—”

“Miss Brooks, I’m sorry to inform you but your father…”

I explode out of my seat. “What happened to my dad?”

“He’s… missing.”

CHAPTER

FIFTY-THREE

APRIL

“April, baby. Take a deep breath.”Mauve hurries around the bar, untying the apron at her waist.

“I need to find him. Dad… I need to find him.” I stumble to the door like a drunk.

Mauve steps in front of me, blocking me with her hands on her hips. “We’re gonna find your daddy. I doubt he would have wandered far, but there is no way you can get behind a wheel in this state.”

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