Page 104 of As You Wish

Dale huffed. “True. Man, I miss her.”

I remembered when she passed. The funeral costs had been covered by the grant. It was one of the first things it did.

“You seem lost in thought,” Dale said. “Thinking about Gabriel again?”

I shook my head. “I’m thinking about the grant.”

“You kids jump from topic to topic way too fast for me.”

“Hey, when your wife died, did she have some massive estate? Maybe enough to save the town?”

“Would I be scanning your sad ice cream if I did?” Dale asked in a flat voice.

“All right, fair enough.”

“You’re trying to find them, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Unfortunately. In many ways too. We all knew you were hiding how much you missed Gabriel, by the way. You running off upset was gonna happen eventually.”

My cheeks heated. “Can you finish ringing me up? I need to hide.”

“Jade, it’s okay. We’ve all had our moments.”

“I’ll just have mine in front of my TV, thanks.”

I paid and went home. I got through the door and considered eating my ice cream, but not even that was enough.

My gaze went to the wall I shared with Gabriel, and I had to force myself to look away. There was no way I could be here, not without losing my mind.

I needed somewhere that I could be calm.

Without thinking, I got in my car and drove out of the town square. The sun had mostly set, but the remaining light left one last glow in the sky while I pulled onto Hugh’s land. With my trusty flashlight, I made it to the spring and sat on my favorite rock.

All I could hear were frogs and bugs. It was quiet, and I needed that.

I set my phone on the rock and leaned back, trying to force myself to be calm.