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Back Timberdark Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Praise for Wranglestone
  5. Epigraph
  6. Map
  7. Part I
  8. Prologue
  9. 1
  10. 2
  11. 3
  12. 4
  13. 5
  14. 6
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. Part II
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. Part III
  37. 27
  38. 28
  39. 29
  40. 30
  41. 31
  42. 5 Years Later
  43. Acknowledgements
  44. About the Author

Cooper’s whole body seemed to sink. The twinkle in his eyes faded, like the dazzle of sunlight on water when dulled by clouds. He shoved the chair under the table and Peter watched him stand there, chewing over whether to pick a fight for watching him when he had no right to. Cooper’s chest heaved. It was coming any moment now. The argument. But it never did. He looked to the window where the snow was falling and shrugged.

“Don’t you remember anything?” said Peter, aware once more of the sting on his neck.

But Cooper pretended to take more interest in the view than was likely and Peter felt his instruction to drop the matter.

The clock ticked.

The snow kept falling.

Peter pushed the dinner plate away from him and looked up. “Am I going to lose you?”

Cooper looked back with his dark eyes all wide and full of fear. And Peter felt his closeness reaching out across the dining table like it had done that very first day in the tunnel beneath the car. His eyes told him I love you, Pete. It felt urgent, as if they’d never told him properly before now. Cooper sighed and Peter’s name whispered across his lips. Peter. Peter. Peter’s heart pounded and there was his name again. Not as it really was, weak and unassuming, but as it existed only inside Cooper. Precious. So very precious.

“Come to bed?” said Peter.

“I’m tired,” said Cooper.

“Then, tell me the story to Star Wars again?”

“I think I’m just gonna go to bed, Pete.”

“Why don’t we go take a walk to the edge of town?” Then, “OK. If you’re tired.”

“I’m tired.”

“Then go to bed.”

Cooper quietly made his way into the bedroom but briefly held back at the door. “I’m real glad the movie theatre’s all you hoped it’d be, Pete.”

Peter clasped both hands tightly across his lap and nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”

The bedroom door closed behind him and Peter was left alone with the clock and the walls and the sound of the neighbour clearing his throat on the other side. And when, some time later, he too went to sleep, Cooper didn’t stir to wish him good night and the space between the beds became a canyon.

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