From Here to You by Jamie McGuire

Author:Jamie McGuire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Darby

The drawing on the scratch paper I’d dug out of the trash can behind the check-in desk was beginning to look somewhat like a burning forest, but I’d made it beautiful. A single rose bloomed in the black clearing the fire had left behind. Always making the best out of things, I thought. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but a turd shouldn’t be called a rose. Trex was a rose. Unlike Shawn, Trex hadn’t shown a different side. He was kind, and thoughtful, and had every intention of sticking around. Once in a while, dark thoughts would creep up, but I shoved them down as many times as I had to. Trex made me happy, and I deserved to be happy. No more shoulds or shouldn’ts. Those were someone else’s rules, anyway. Not mine.

I stopped drawing when Trex walked in just steps behind Ellison and Tyler. Ellison’s face was dirty, a bloody cut under one eye. Her spirit had been broken, shame darkening her eyes. Tyler didn’t look much better. He was still in his yellow uniform, his white helmet in his dirty hand. He looked helpless and defeated. My first thought was that they’d gotten into a fight, but I knew Tyler better than that. And he’d have had bruises of his own. The shame on Tyler’s face was because Ellison had crossed a line, to a place he couldn’t follow.

Trex didn’t seem to notice.

“Hey,” he said.

“Stavros said he overheard the hotshots say Ellie was arrested. Is that true?”

He looked at Tyler and Ellie stepping into the elevator. “I heard that, too. Stavros has you working another double?” he asked, unhappy.

“Tilde is seventy-one, Trex. She hasn’t been feeling well a lot lately. I’m worried about her.”

“It’s not good for the baby for you to be on your feet for so long.”

I smiled at him. “I’ve been feeling really good.”

“Wow,” he said, looking down at my doodle. “Don’t throw that one away. I want to keep it.”

“Oh, quit it,” I said.

“I’m serious. You’re really good.”

I gestured to the empty hall in front of the elevators. “Is Ellison okay?”

Trex looked in the direction I was pointing. “I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find out.”

I nodded, watching Trex walk into the room just off the lobby that the higher-ups from the Forestry Department had claimed as headquarters.

Tyler walked past me alone, keeping his eyes to the floor until he left out the sliding doors. He caught a ride with a small group in an interagency vehicle, and the truck peeled out of the parking lot. Ellison trudged toward me a few minutes later, her bag in her hands. The marker fell out of my hands, and I bent down to pick it up and then stood. “Ellie? Are you okay?”

She placed her card key on the upper part of the desk. “Yeah. I have to leave.” Her voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“I screwed up. I’m being sent home.”

I shook my head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.