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“Okay, I have them in my truck.” David looked between us both confused. But then shrugged it off as Malachi began to follow him.
Malachi glanced back again and I smiled as I held out my hands and showed him all five of my fingers before lifting my camera to take another picture of them as they walked back towards the trail where the cars were parked. It was only when I put the camera down that I realized I was standing between the Sheriff and Murphy.
“Right. So, about the book fair…”
“Before we get into that,” Sheriff Richards said much more seriously. “I never got to say sorry about your grandfather.”
“It’s okay. I mean it’s not okay, but I’m okay. I promise,” I told her honestly. I was happy she’d even remembered. “Thank you though.”
“He loved you a lot, I could tell. Grandparents are like that.” She smiled proudly to herself.
“Yeah…I loved him a lot too,” I whispered as I brushed my hair behind my ears. I could not believe a year had already gone by and yet everything felt exactly the same. I loved how it seemed that we could just pick up where we’d left off in town, like we’d always lived here. I glanced up at the sky and watched as the sun slowly sank behind the trees.
“Why does he call you Esther the connoisseur?” Murphy asked me, thankfully changing the subject.
I grinned. “You sure you want to know?”
She nodded. “I forgot to ask until just now.”
“The first day I got here he was showing me around and we went to Pete’s diner. I hadn’t eaten all day and so I scarfed down my meal as quickly as I could, and from then on he called me the connoisseur, but what he really meant to call me was the carnivore.”
“Oh, my grandson,” the Sheriff groaned as she shook her head and took a slow gulp of her hot chocolate.
“Let me guess, you corrected him and he decided to just stick with it,” Murphy sighed.
“Yep!” I said my voice getting just a little higher. “Because he said it was a classic mistake, so I let it go because I rather not be known as Esther the carnivore.”
“Gosh, he’s so dumb,” Murphy groaned as she put her gloved hands on her face and shook her head. It was funny because she seemed more embarrassed for him than he had been for himself. But I guess that’s how it was when you loved someone. I just hoped he’d gotten the help he needed, but I didn’t want to pry into her life and ask questions.
“If you two don’t have anything planned for Thanksgiving, feel free to stop by the station,” Sheriff said as she inhaled the cold air.
“Th
ank you, but Mr. and Mrs. Yamauchi invited us over for Thanksgiving. I’m finally going to meet their famous lawyer daughter. If we have time afterward we’d love to stop by. Then, in the spring I’d love to host the book fair. Any reason for it though?”
“I just figure it would be a good way to get some tourists to pass through…after all, we got a famous writer living in town now… ” Her attention was suddenly drawn away by the kids who were slipping and playing on the ice further down the pond.
“How many times do I have to tell these darn kids! I swear…where are their parents—?”
“We got it, Sheriff!” Murphy made a face for me to join her around the campfire. She glanced over her shoulder to look at the Sheriff before looking at me. “She has a strict ‘no ice skating on the pond’ rule.”
“What? Just look at it. It screams skate on me.”
“Exactly. Most people go at night or when she isn’t around. It’s so beautiful. The way the moonlight reflects on the water.” She sighed happily.
“So why is she so upset about it?” I turned and sure enough, she was still watching the kids as we walked through the small shrubs and branches on the other side.
“Apparently when she was younger, ages ago, she and some friends fell through the ice. They got her out but the two other kids died. It was an usually warm winter back then.”
“Yeah but sometimes things like that just stay with you,” I whispered feeling bad now. “Those memories must come rushing back to her mind—”
“I know it must be traumatizing for her, but you can’t just stop living because of an accident. People get into car accidents all the time in this town, we can’t ban them from driving. They’re kids. Kids are fearless and innocent by nature. It’s us adults who make them scared,” she said and I noticed that she placed her hand over her stomach as she spoke.
“Murphy…” I trailed off when her freckled faced turned straight towards me. It wasn’t my place to butt in so I asked another question…which was still a bit nosey. “How are you are David if you don’t mind me asking?”
She blushed then grinned as she nodded to herself. “We’re good. I know…I know the last time you saw us…we weren’t really in a good…he wasn’t in a good place. But he’s better. He’s stopped drinking and is seeing a therapist.”
“Dr. Monterrosa? I heard he was good.”
