Love & Moosechief by Jacqueline Winters

Author:Jacqueline Winters
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jackie M. Wallick

Dishes washed and leftovers put away, Kinley retreated to her bedroom and closed the door. The cardboard box from the loft sat on the chair beside her bed, both calling to her and taunting her. Fiona was right. The chance that the box held some mysterious answer was unlikely.

The odds the box held pieces of her mom that’d bring Kinley to tears were high.

She dropped onto the bed, pulling the chair closer. She heard Pickles hiss from the other side of the door as she opened the flaps. “That cat,” she mumbled with an amused head shake. He was no doubt happy to have the run of the cabin again with Rowdy gone. It’d taken him more than an hour to abandon his hiding spot after Ryder left.

With delicate hands, Kinley removed one item at a time and set them on the comforter for further investigation. Her mom’s favorite sweatshirt, an Aerosmith CD, a couple of paperbacks—one so worn the spine had unraveled, leaving the book in three sections—a postcard of a B&B she didn’t recognize, a handful of photos, and a tiny velvet pouch.

Cassidy wasn’t known for keeping many possessions. She believed in the less is more philosophy. This box was all that was left of her. A box Kinley had never been able to open before now.

Kinley clenched the sweatshirt against her chest, inhaling the faintest trace of the jasmine perfume her mom wore more days than not. She wished she had a bottle of it now. Memories of happy times flooded Kinley at an alarming rate. Walks along the bay, ice cream cone Saturdays, nature hikes, nights spent on their backs stargazing from their backyard . . .

She anticipated the eventual heavy tears the moment Ryder carried the box down the ladder. But the choking sobs of grief gripped her the most when she looked through the half dozen photos. Cassidy’s illuminating smile stared back at her from each one. Some included Fiona, some Kinley. And others were just her mom. But always, always smiling.

Kinley sobbed into the sweatshirt, desperately trying to suffocate her sobbing so Fiona wouldn’t worry. She cried until the tears dried up and her face was swollen. She didn’t need a mirror to tell her she looked terrible.

The phone chime that resembled a doorbell echoed in the small room, drawing Kinley’s focus away from the pile of her mother’s things for a moment. Had signal not been so rare out at the cabin, she might’ve ignored it. Instead, she reached for the phone and flipped it over screen-up on the bed.

Ava: I have a pint of moose tracks ice cream that’s about to go bad. Want to help a girl out?

Kinley: I’ll be over in 10.

Ava: Your phone works!

Kinley: Must be something in the air. Don’t eat it all without me! I’m on my way.

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