She couldn’t help but smile, thinking immediately of the first time she’d met him. Even in those terrible dark days in Argentum, desperate to find her grandson and knowing her deepest secrets had been exposed online, the smile and twinkling eyes of the proprietor of the town’s general store was a reminder that kindness could surface even in the bleakest of circumstances. Without Don Rush, none of them would be alive today.

“Thank you for calling me back so quickly,” she said.

“I would have done it sooner, except for our cell service out here is no good.”

She paused, closing her eyes, her stomach dropping. “So you’ve done it, then?”

“Successfully off the grid.”

“You felt it, then.”

“Yes ma’am. Woke up yesterday morning and thought for sure this was it. My whole body felt like I’d been rung like a bell, and that any minute it would start happening. I tried to sneak out, but you know I’m an old man, so I knocked over the dang cane just getting out of bed. Barbara came in to see what had happened. I guess the expression on my face, and the fact that I told her to run out of the house and not stop running, did not help matters.”

“Barbara is with you?”

“Right over there in the driver’s seat.” Lynn heard a soft voice speak in the background. “She says hello, Lynn.”

“Tell her…” Lynn stammered. Offer an apology? But, of course, it had been Barbara, all those decades ago, when they were both young women, who willingly entered this world of shadows and secrets to try and find her missing brother.

“She knows, Lynn. I tried to convince her that I needed to go off on my own for the time being, that the safest thing was for me to put as much distance between me and anyone with a heartbeat. But she’s stubborn, this sister of mine. So we’re out here in the middle of nowhere. Did you do the same?”

She exhaled. “I wanted to, but … circumstances have prevented me.”

Don chuckled. “I bet one circumstance is an ornery woman with a fondness for quilted vests and cuss words.”

“Roxy is part of it. But … I won’t burden you with the rest. If you’ve truly unplugged…”

“I haven’t read any news in days. Blissfully unaware, except for the fear that it’s finally happening, after all this time. But … your ears aren’t bleeding, are they? No headaches? And I assume no one is dying around you?”

Lynn shook her head. “No. Nothing. But…”