Give Her Shelter: Book 1, The Dancer by Jannock Chase

Author:Jannock, Chase
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

“You're not my father.”

I lay in bed, reading Moby Dick. It had been years since I last dove into Melville's masterpiece. As a professor, rereading books was an essential part of teaching literature. It also cemented my love for great novels. When you read an important book as a young man and then read it again years or even decades later, you often gained a completely different perspective.

Moby Dick was the kind of novel that rewarded such close attention. I was only a few chapters in and already I was noticing the humor of the novel coming through. "Funny" was not a word I would have associated with Moby Dick before, but it was true. Humor brimmed from every paragraph. Knowing the grim story ahead, it was a delightful surprise to find myself chuckling at young Ishmael's adventures at the Spouter-Inn.

I took a moment to rest my eyes. The light from the LED lamp cast the bedroom in stark shadows. Outside, the snow and rain had ceased and the clouds had cleared. Through the window, I could see stars in the sky, streaked with a few wispy clouds. The cold was settling in hard. Soon, the roads below Conner Pond would be frozen over in a thick layer of black ice.

"Going to be a lot of spin-outs tomorrow," I told myself.

Driving would be a challenge in those conditions. I was glad my truck had 4-wheel drive, chains, and six bags of kitty litter in the back. I'd need all of it if I was going to get Lana into town.

I sighed deeply, not knowing where she'd go from there. I wondered if Lana herself knew what her plan was for tomorrow.

We had spent the last few hours watching her show together. I was tickled by how enthusiastic Lana was for the British dramedy. She pointed out all the character quirks to me, explaining the convoluted plots and laughing at the character's antics. We'd sipped tea and nibbled cookies together, enjoying the show and each other's company.

But when I gently asked her about what she was going to do tomorrow, Lana had been vague. Saying she'd "figure it out" overnight, Lana had simply shrugged off the rest of my questions. I didn't push, figuring she needed time to go over her options.

As I was washing up for bed, Lana had come into the bathroom and asked if she could use my toothbrush to brush her teeth. I had just finished brushing and her request caught me by surprise. It seemed a little intimate, but I didn't object. I handed her my toothbrush and she casually started using it, brushing her teeth while she stood beside me at the bathroom sink. Our eyes had caught in the mirror and Lana had given me a saucy wink.

Lana had an earthy charm that was hard to resist. It hurt to think of her alone with no support system. I ran over some possible ways I could help her continue on her journey to Seattle.

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