Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Snow fell on the windshield of Ryder’s truck in loose white flakes as he drove down Main Street. He parked at the Fate Mountain Diner and shut off the engine. For several seconds, Ryder and Nell watched the snow fall and melt on the hood.
Ryder’s shoulders ached from lifting boxes all afternoon.
Everyone from Steel Protection had come down to unload the trailer full of Nell’s things.
Dom and Hunter had taken the desk. Blaze and Axel had worked the file cabinet around the turn in the stairs while Siren called down the clearance from the landing.
They all kept boxes moving up the stairs until the trailer was empty.
Nell smiled and reached across the console.
Ryder took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
They then got out into the snow. When they entered the diner, warm air carried the scents of grilled onions and chicken-fried steak.
Customers filled the red booths along the wall, and servers moved between the tables with trays balanced along their arms. Stella met them at the entrance and pulled Nell into a hug.
“Come on in,” she said. “Everyone’s here.”
The Steel Protection families had filled three joined tables near the front window.
Dom saw them and raised one hand. Adrian leaned over Valeria from his booster seat and waved both of his.
Ryder waved back at Adrian. At the other end of the table, Axel motioned at the two empty chairs beside Reese, who was placing Elsie in a high chair.
Ryder helped Nell out of her coat, then hung their coats over the backs of the chairs Axel had saved for them, and they sat down. Stella sat next to Blaze, who was helping Rory scribble on a kid’s menu.
“Welcome home, Nell,” Reese said. “We missed you. It’s good to have you back.”
“I missed you too,” she said. “All of you.”
“Did you get the office finished?” Stella asked.
“Finished enough,” Nell said. “The desk and computer are set up. I can work from home tomorrow.”
Reese reached across the table and squeezed Nell’s other hand.
Dom lifted his glass toward her from beside Adrian, and Hunter gave the tabletop one satisfied knock with his knuckles.
Ryder closed his fingers around Nell’s. She smiled at all of them, then looked down when the server stopped beside her chair with an order pad.
The server began with Dom’s end of the table while another server brought fresh drinks from the counter.
Valeria turned Adrian’s menu toward her and pointed to his choice.
Rory held up the page he had covered in blue crayon when the server reached Blaze and Stella, and Stella moved his hand down far enough to see the food beneath it.
The smell that had followed Ryder through the door had already made his decision.
He ordered the chicken-fried steak. Nell closed her menu and ordered a chicken sandwich and fries.
Around the joined tables, menus folded and disappeared into the server’s hands.
Brie shifted Colette against her while Hunter moved their drinks so the server could grab their menus.
The first tray brought plates for Adrian and Rory and two of the adults farther down.
Parents drew the hot plates back long enough to cut food and rearrange cups.
A second server came behind the first with Reese’s dinner and a plate for Nell.
Ryder waited while Nell took her first bite, then watched the kitchen doors for his own.
“You look abandoned,” Nell said.
“I’m staying strong.”
His chicken-fried steak arrived beneath a flood of gravy a minute later. By the time the last plates reached Hunter and Brie, everyone else had begun eating. The joined tables filled with requests for ketchup, extra napkins, and the basket of rolls someone had set beyond Adrian’s reach.
“Tell them about the dog,” Brie said, nudging Hunter.
“A ranch dog from the neighboring place followed me through an inspection Tuesday,” Hunter said. “Big yellow dog. Every time I looked back, he sat down like I wouldn’t notice him if he stopped moving.”
“He sent me a picture from the last gate,” Brie said. “The dog was sitting on his boot.”
Hunter cut another bite from his dinner. “When I opened the Suburban to put my equipment away, he climbed in ahead of it. His owner couldn’t get there before I had to leave, so he came back to the office with me.”
Ryder had found the dog stretched across the mat beside Hunter’s desk, head on his paws, watching the front door while Hunter finished his report. When his owner arrived and called him, the dog lifted his head and looked at Hunter.
“She had to put a leash on him,” Hunter said.
Nell laughed. Brie asked about the drive from Portland. After she told her it was fine, Colette began rubbing one fist against her cheek, although she remained awake enough to reach for Brie’s fork whenever it came close.
“If she falls asleep in the car, we’re in trouble,” Brie said. “She fooled us last night. I thought she was down, and then we heard her laughing.”
Hunter leaned around Colette to see Nell. “She was sitting up in the crib waiting for one of us to come back.”
“Every time Hunter went to check, she started laughing before he reached the door,” Brie said. “We never found out what was so funny.”
Hunter offered Colette another bite. She turned her face away from it and reached for his water instead.
The snowfall had begun to hold along the edges of Main Street, bright beneath the diner windows.
“What else did I miss while I was away?” Nell asked.
“Adrian started preschool,” Valeria said. “He walked in without looking back. I sat in the car for ten minutes before I left.”
Valeria wiped a streak of ketchup from Adrian’s hand. Dom rested his arm along the back of Valeria’s chair.
“What do you like best about preschool?” Nell asked him.
“Truck,” he said, beaming.
Adrian stretched his arms as wide as the booster seat allowed. “Big truck.”
“There’s a dump truck in the indoor play area,” Valeria said. “It’s the first thing he goes to in the morning. And… everyone, Mom has officially invited everyone to her house for Christmas. She plans to make enough tamales for a small army.”
“That sounds amazing,” Nell said.
“Siren and I are setting up the Fate Mountain Festival Committee. I’ll coordinate schedules, volunteers, and participating businesses,” Reed said from the other side of the table.
Siren smiled over at him. “I’ll organize security and emergency planning with whoever is running each event.”
“The first one we’ll work with is the first annual Fate Mountain Folk Festival next spring,” Reese said.
Stella leaned forward to see them past Blaze. “Put the diner on the participating-business list.”
Ryder had only streaks of gravy left on his plate, and Nell ate her final fry before pushing hers forward.
Adrian’s attention wandered from his dinner to the cars passing through the snow beyond the window.
At the counter, a couple paid and pulled on their coats while another pair of customers took their places.
The servers continued moving around the joined tables, clearing whatever they could reach without interrupting the conversation.
“I’ll probably come down for lunch tomorrow,” Nell told Stella. “I’m going to need a reason to step away from the boxes.”
“I’ll save you a booth,” Stella said.
Nell smiled.
Outside, snow softened the parked cars and the dark line of the street. Nell was still talking to Stella when Rory began rubbing his eyes. Blaze gathered him against his chest. The server arrived for the last cleared dishes, and chairs began pushing back from the tables.
Coats came off their chair backs. Parents collected children, and everyone prepared to leave. Ryder and Nell said their final goodbyes and stepped into the snow together.
Snow moved through the truck’s headlights and collected in the dark seams between the buildings on the short drive home. He parked in the lot behind Steel Protection. They went through the side door and climbed the stairs. At the apartment door, Ryder unlocked it and pushed it open.
“You never carried me over the threshold.”
Ryder put his keys in his pocket, stepped back into the hall, and lifted her. Nell gave a startled laugh and caught both arms around his neck.
“I was joking.”
“Too late.” He carried her inside.
Boxes still lined the living-room walls, but Nell’s books were already on his shelves. Nell kissed him as he held her.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Bedroom,” they said together.
Ryder kissed her again and carried her down the hall. Nell laughed against his mouth as he reached the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind them.