BooksBarbecue
Back Pack Up the Moon Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Kristan Higgins
  3. BERKLEY BOOKS BY KRISTAN HIGGINS
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. EPILOGUE
  43. Readers Guide
  44. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  45. About the Author
  46. What’s next onyour reading list?

He was lucky. They had walked with him through this long, lonely year. He was damn lucky, not just to have been Lauren’s husband, but to have all of these people as well.

Then he saw a movement in the far corner of the living room, and his heart jolted. For just one second, he saw his wife, wearing the long pink dress she’d worn so often that Cape Cod summer. Her hair was loose, and she wasn’t wearing her cannula. She was watching Sebastian and Octavia, who were playing on the couch, a faint smile on her lips.

Then she turned to him and smiled in full, that smile that just staggered him. Her brown eyes sparkled with laughter, as they had so often. For that one second, he saw once again all the love she had for him, all the joy.

He didn’t look away. He didn’t even breathe, hoping the moment would last forever. Then his eyes swam with tears, and when he blinked, she was gone.

32

Joshua

Month thirteen

March

HE DID NOT read the letter Sarah left in March.

Instead, he emailed Alex at Chiron Medical Enterprises and asked when would be a good time to visit. Then he called Cookie, who booked him a flight, and he flew to Singapore a week later.

At the Chiron headquarters, he told Alex and Naomi his terms. He’d take the job but would need to be based in Rhode Island, though he’d spend two weeks out of six in Singapore. Way to rack up those frequent-flier miles. They said yes immediately.

He was introduced around, given a first-class tour of the beautiful city, taken out for dinner and to meet the woman who would be his Singapore-based assistant. Over dinner, he told Alex and Naomi he was a widower, and it had been just over a year. They expressed their condolences, and no one said anything more about it.

His salary was less than he’d made some years, but it was steady, had good healthcare benefits, six weeks a year of vacation (because everyone but Americans knew the value of significant time off). He’d also get bonuses based on patent and design implementation. Alex and Naomi suggested he hire two engineers and an assistant to work in Providence.

It was time for a change.

33

Lauren

Fifty-seven months left

TWO YEARS AND one month after her father died, and the day after she graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, Lauren Rose Carlisle had made a list.

A really important list.