Page 3 of Sweet Home

“Well, Sugarville Grove is just through the trees,” Joetold her. “Rob Bradford owns a shop there. It’s the only one in town, but he’ll treat you fair and honest. I run this thing for him from time to time.”

“Thank you,” she told him.

There was no way she was asking him to tow the mangled car any farther than the closest possible place. She already couldn’t imagine the cost of everything he’d done for her so far. Hopefully, the car had a junk value they could apply against her bill.

Joe leaned forward and turned on the radio, filling the cab with the sounds of children singing “Silent Night.”

“Local school choir,” he said with a smile, nodding to the radio. “It’s nice they play the kids’ music along with the other stuff.”

“That is nice,” Dulcie agreed.

As they drove on through the woods, she felt herself getting sleepy. She hadn’t stopped at all today except for bathroom breaks. Now that she was warm and didn’t have to stay alert, it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

“Almost there, young lady,” Joe said, chuckling. “You can use the phone at the shop if there’s anyone you need to call.”

Using a landline was such an old-fashioned idea that she had to smile. Joe Fournier obviously wasn’t a man who sent a lot of text messages.

Not that she had anyone to text, or to call for that matter. Literally no one would miss her tonight.

“Thank you,” she told him anyway. “You’vebeen so kind.”

“Aw, you sure haven’t met many Vermonters yet,” Joe chuckled. “We take care of each other up here. You’ll see.”

They followed along the road until at last Joe slowed down and put on his signal. A moment later, a small repair shop appeared on their right, surrounded by trees. Christmas lights around the office window glowed merrily. Joe pulled up and carefully parked the tow truck alongside the garage doors.

Dulcie wondered if it was the kind of shop that had vending machines in the office. Now that she was warmed up and she felt safe, her stomach was practically cramping with hunger.

“Let’s head inside and you can make your calls while I track down Rob,” Joe said.

She opened up the door and hopped out, eager to head inside. But as soon as her feet hit the ground, the world began to fade around the edges.

“You okay?” Joe called to her. His voice sounded like it was coming from far, far away.

The colorful Christmas lights bled together as Dulcie’s legs gave out under her, and everything went dark.

2

WEST

West Lawrence pulled up at the repair shop and got out of his truck quickly, grabbing his medical bag from the back before heading inside.

Christmas lights glowed around the big shop window, and he could see Old Joe Fournier pacing inside and Rob Bradford sitting at the desk.

There was no sign of the distressed girl he’d been called for.

West always hated being pulled into situations like this when the patient really should be going to the hospital. But it was common out here in farmland where most folks never considered even coming in from the field for anything less than a protruding bone. It also didn’t help that they all had bad years here and there and often worried about paying for an ambulance. He figured most country doctors ran into the same kind of thing. It was more important to help people than to split hairs about where you were doing it.

At least Milly wasn’t around to complain about his house calls anymore. Back when they were married, she seemed to resent every second he spent paying attention to anyone or anything else. Now that he was on his own, he didn’t have to feel guilty about answering the phone at all hours.

Of course, it also meant that he had to raise Elizabeth on his own, which was its own adventure. He was thankful at times like this that he had family around to help. Mom had come to sit at the house tonight while he was out, since Elizabeth was already sleeping.

He pushed open the door, sending the bells overhead jingling.

“Thanks for coming,” Rob said, getting up right away from behind the desk.

Joe pointed to the battered sofa that had been in the shop’s office since West was a little boy. At first, West thought he was looking at a pile of coats. Then he realized that a slender figure with dirty-blonde hair was curled up underneath.

“She was shaking,” Joe explained.

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