Page 37 of One Last Promise

He glanced over his shoulder to where Hazel had come to stand behind him. She ran her brush haphazardly through her hair, working it into a knot at the ends.

“It’s a fireplace match. Wanna help?”

He glanced at Tillie, who’d stayed at the counter, and she shrugged.

Hazel stepped up and he lit the match, then held out the end for her. She took it, and he pulled her closer, put his hand over hers. “Put the flame on the paper—like this.” He lit some of the crumpled paper in front. “Then over here, we’ll light the birch bark.” He moved her hand with the match and ignited the old, dried curls of birch bark he’d picked up in the yard.

The fire began to flame to life, and he helped her shake out the match. “Good job.”

She grinned.

She was missing her bottom incisors. But her top front teeth were in, big in her mouth. Wow, she was a cutie.

At the stove, Axel poured the noodles into the boiling water.

Meanwhile, Tillie had plated the steaks and set the table, like they might be at the Skyport for dinner.

So many questions.

Like how’d she ended up in Alaska, and . . . and how about that crazy move she’d done on Rigger, sweeping out his feet? Reminded him a little of how she’d taken Moose down a few months ago when he’d accidently surprised her in a wintery parking lot.

He watched her as she took the brush fromHazel, then held the ends of Hazel’s hair and worked out the snarls. Hazel scowled even as Tillie made an effort to minimize the pulling.

“Where have you two been the past month?” He didn’t know why he started there. It seemed easier than the questions about Rigger. Especially in front of Hazel.

“In our car,” Hazel said.

His eyes widened. Tillie sighed. “Just for the last week.”

“A week.In your car?”

“We were camping,” Hazel said. “With sleeping bags.”

“We stayed at a few parks around the city. Kincaid. Earthquake. There are a lot of parks around.”

Camping.

“This looks amazing.” Tillie pulled her plate toward herself. “You want some salad, Hazelnut?”

“Gross.”

“Macaroni and cheese in five,” Axel said.

Moose piled salad and some squash on his plate. Maybe food would help him unsnarl his brain, because now he was stuck on an image of Hazel and Tillie sleeping in their car as the nights got colder.

Yeah, no, that wasn’t happening again.

“For the record, we also stayed at a few hotels,” Tillie said softly. “I just ran out of money.”

The money. She seemed to connect with that thought the same time he did. “Where are London and Shep?”

Right.

He’d left his phone in his jacket and now slid off the stool?—

“I got it, bro,” Axel said, already dialing. He put it on speaker, then grabbed the pot of noodles and dumped the water out into the sink, holding onto the lid.

The call rang and rang, then went to Shep’s voicemail.

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