Page 19 of Homecoming

“Babe, do you mind if I check out that bookstore?” Angela nodded her head toward the shop to their right.

Aiden glanced around, feeling for anything out of place. “Go ahead. I don’t think we’re gonna move far while you’re gone.”

Grace and Angela headed toward the shop front, Grace talking animatedly with her hands. It seemed like Angela had found a friend.

Angela couldn’t getover the perfection of the night. She glanced back. Aiden stood with Fallon propped on his hip, playing with the giraffe as they waited for the line to move. Fallon was smiling, her slobbery little mouth open and her blue eyes shining. Lights twinkled all around them, and snow fell gently, creating a perfect backdrop for the night. It was a charming picture.

“You have a gorgeous family,” Grace said. She was holding the door of the bookstore open for Angela.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, ducking quickly into the entry.

“Don’t be sorry! The two of them were definitely worth the glance back. If I had a family like that, I would do the same thing.”

Angela scanned her face. “You’re not involved then?”

“No,” Grace sighed, pulling off her gloves. “Haven’t been for a while. I had a fiancé in New York, but that was a couple of years ago. He professed to love me, but had no interest in moving down here to the back of beyond, as he called it, when my dad got sick. The man lived on takeout, so he would have died from starvation within a couple of days, probably.”

Angela laughed, pulling off her knit cap. Her hair snapped with electricity, and she almost put it back on. “I’ve known some men like that.” She stuffed her hat in her pocket and looked around. “Oh, my gosh…”

The bookstore was like a well-worn robe. Warm and cozy, there was a small wood burner on the right wall radiating heat, with a couple of stuffed chairs in front of it. And there were shelves upon shelves of books, both new and used. The shelves absolutely sagged with them. The walls were covered with posters and flyers of signings and festivals, and one corner was devoted to oddities. It was a fascinating store, and she knew she wanted to come back when she had more time to linger.

She glanced out the front window. The line had only crept forward a few feet.

“Are you a reader,” Grace asked her, her pretty, unique eyes twinkling. No wonder Black had been staring at her.

“Oh, yes,” she breathed. “The past couple of years, I’ve really gotten into some paranormal romance.” She chuckled at the irony. Spotting a sign for paranormal, she headed in that direction, immediately spotting a book she wanted. Grace was a romance reader as well, and she pointed out a few authors she loved.

“Oh, Gracie, here you are,” a woman said, coming out of the stacks. She handed Grace a book. “Put that away, would you, dear?”

“Aunt Tash, this is Angela. She’s a counselor up the mountain. Try not to be weird. This is Aunt Tash’s store.”

Angela smiled at the small woman. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I love your store!”

The woman looked her up and down and nodded. “Yeah, you’ll do.”

And she disappeared back into the stacks.

Grace returned moments later, and shook her head. “Like I said, eccentrics.”

By the time they left the store, Angela had found several books she’d wanted, plus one for Aiden and two picture books for Fallon. She justified the purchase by telling herself that theymight lose internet and power over the holiday. Not that they’d lost either in the three days since they’d arrived. Everything had run perfectly.

When they left the Dog Pound, they’d left all their old devices behind. Tablets, phones. Anything that had once connected to the Wi-Fi in that location. Krammer had supplied them with all new devices which had never been logged onto the internet at the Pound. All in hopes that they wouldn’t be tracked and found.

Same with their credit cards. They’d dumped everything old and gotten all new, under the new foundation name, as well as a crazy amount of physical cash. Angela understood that they were trying to minimize their digital footprint.

They had, to the best of their ability, disappeared.

Trying to look on the lighter side, she told herself they were creating a new home. And she was adding personal touches to the home. Actually, maybe these would be Christmas presents. Yes, they would. Christmas was Wednesday, and she planned on having presents under the tree for Fallon. She’d ordered a few things to the Elton building before they’d left, but she hadn’t had a chance to wrap them yet.

God, had she even brought wrapping paper in the move? She didn’t think so.

“I need some wrapping paper,” she told Grace.

An older woman rung her up, and she didn’t see Grace’s weird aunt again.

Grace led her into the store next door. It was a darling little Hallmark-type gift store, with aisles of cards and knickknacks. There were giant displays of rolled and packaged wrapping paper, bows, ribbons. She found a few more little gifts for Fallon and a special ornament for the tree. It would be her first holiday on the mountain, so they needed to commemorate it.

Grace led her to the counter, to a smiling older woman with straight black and grey hair pulled back in a long ponytail.Laughing brown eyes looked her up and down. “This is Penelope Smart,” Grace said. “Pen, this is Angela Willingham. She’s one of the counselors up the mountain. She came down the mountain for the festival with her family.”

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