Accidental Woman by Barbara Delinsky

Author:Barbara Delinsky [Delinsky, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780743411264
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2002-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Page 141

Barbara Delinsky - An Accidental Woman

Early Tuesday morning, Griffin awoke to the sun slanting in through the cabin window. He hadn't pulled the cafe curtains the night before; he rarely did. Privacy was a city need. Here, no one looked in. No one even walked by. On Little Bear, he had his own tiny corner of the world. He had lights, though he found himself using candles as often as not. Having mastered the art of keeping the woodstove going, cooking rudimentary meals, and doing his business in a latrine in the woods, he was surprisingly comfortable. His cell phone still didn't work here, but there was an advantage in that. For every wanted call that he had to wait to access until he reached the mainland, there were three calls that he was happy to miss. He had lots of friends, and they called often. He had lots of brothers, and they called often, too. Looking back, Griffin guessed that, totally aside from work, he had been spending two hours a day on the phone-and he hadn't minded it then. It was a way of life.

Here, the phone was an adjunct, not a focus. Here, he saw people face to-face, and if they remained wary of him, they weren't as wary now as they had been at first. They knew who he was. They greeted him by name. They were getting used to seeing him at the post office, the general store, the laundromat, the gas station. They let him eavesdrop on conversations, which was a remarkable concession. He didn't need the phone to fill his time here. He was with people-even for breakfast, because when he wasn't at Poppy's, he was with Billy Farraway. The old man had taken to dropping by for fried eggs and toast, and presented such a lean and hungry figure, in the broadest sense of the

word, that Griffin made him breakfast even when he himself was going to wait to have breakfast later with Poppy. Billy was a relic of the Lake Henry that had existed when Charlie's Cafe was one wall of the general store and served little more than ham and beans. He never said much, but what he did say had charm. This morning, it was barely seven when Billy came by--and that was another thing Griffin had noticed. Waking up early. It came naturally here. Of course, there was no night life to speak of, but Griffin didn't miss it. He felt good. The bruise on his face had healed. His muscles weren't sore anymore. He felt stronger than he had in ages, more energetic.

That was one of the reasons he set off for town as soon as Billy was gone. Another was the Farraway bon mot for the day. "Round here, the old man said in his crusty voice, you gotta look up to live right. Look up. for the sun, look up for the crow, look up for the crown of the tree. Good crown, good sap.

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