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Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Half Title Page
  3. Books by Katie Powner
  4. Title Page
  5. Copyright Page
  6. Dedication
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. About the Author
  61. Back Ads
  62. Back Cover

“What?” Frank stared him down, a twinkle in his eye. “Good-looking? Sane? Smart?”

Mitch looked at the floor. “Ready.”

“Look, man.” Frank put a hand on his shoulder. “No one’s ever ready.”

Mitch hung his head. That was definitely true. He hadn’t been ready when Caroline got sick. Hadn’t been ready to say good-bye. Hadn’t been ready for Bea to get married. Still wasn’t ready to become a grandpa.

“I’ll think about it.”

“You do that.” Frank clapped him on the back. “I better get going.”

He was about to leave the kitchen when Mitch raised a hand. “Frank.”

Frank stopped and spun around.

“I’m sorry.” Mitch rubbed the back of his neck. “For everything. I never should’ve shut you out. I didn’t know what to do.”

Frank gave him a little smile. “I’m just glad to have you back. I missed you.”

“Thanks.”

“But I’m not the only one.” Frank gestured with one arm in the general direction of the church building. “A lot of other people have been missing you, too.”

Mitch wanted to say something sharp about how they wouldn’t even notice if he drove off a cliff. Instead, he glanced at the schedule Marge had made, hanging on the fridge door, and couldn’t do it. “I’ll—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Frank interrupted. “You’ll think about it.”

He saluted and showed himself out of the house, saying a loud good-bye to Mitch’s parents on his way. Mitch never could’ve imagined so many people coming and going from his house. Caroline would’ve loved it.

He wiped his hands on his jeans and looked around the kitchen as his stomach grumbled. What he wouldn’t give right about now for one of Marge’s—

“Yoo-hoo.” The front door slammed shut, and Marge’s voice carried down the hall. “I brought dinner.”

One side of Mitch’s mouth lifted. Now that he was ready for.

FIFTY-TWO

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As they took the Highway 288 exit and headed north, Bea leaned forward to watch the mountains fill the windshield. Even though she was becoming more familiar with the back side of the Bridgers, the dips and peaks and jagged edges here were like an old friend. Today her old friend was wrapped tightly in a sweater of snow and ice, winter’s merciless fingers pressing, pressing, pressing in, with the mountain refusing to yield.

“We’re lucky the roads weren’t too bad,” she said.

When Jeremy didn’t answer, she glanced over. The final lines of Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take the Girl” played, and Jeremy wiped at his face.

Her eyebrows rose. “Are you crying?”

He sniffed. “No.”

A grin spread across her face. “Yes, you are.”

“It’s a powerful song, okay?” He dabbed at one eye. “Does the girl die?”

“The song doesn’t say.” Bea put a hand on his shoulder. “I like to think she makes it.”

“Me too.”