Free Carly's Gift by Georgia Bockoven

appealing as the free sample of Polish sausage a woman had tried to press on him in the meat aisle.
    â€œDavid?” a female voice repeated.
    Unable to ignore or escape the woman headed toward him, David slipped on his professional smile and forced himself to look up. The smile disappeared when he saw who it was.
    â€œMrs. Strong,” he said, mentally shaking his head at the irony of running into Carly’s mother just when he’d convinced himself he’d cut the last tie. She was a preview of what Carly would most likely be at that age—her back unbent by the hard life she’d lived, her dark brown eyes quick and filled with intelligence, and her once fiery hair turning a golden blond.
    â€œIt’s Mrs. Friedlander now, but I’d really prefer you called me Barbara.”
    â€œYou married Wally Friedlander?” he asked, the surprise evident in his voice.
    â€œI know it must seem strange,” she said. “I hated being the sheriff’s wife when Frank had the job and here I am married to the man who took his place.”
    â€œI always meant to call you to tell you how sorry I was about Frank’s accident. It must have been hell for—”
    â€œThat’s all in the past now,” she said, abruptly stopping him. Her voice softened when she went on. “Actually, the reason I wanted to talk to you was to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your father. He was such a good man. I can’t tell you how much I missed running into him around town after he moved. But then, isn’t that the way it always goes?”
    â€œI think he missed living here, too.” As hard as it was to admit, David had reluctantly reached the conclusion that moving his father hadn’t been the magnanimous gesture he’d convinced himself it was at the time. Believing his father the last thread that tied him to Baxter, it had only seemed reasonable that severing it would free him.
    â€œMabel said it was his heart but that you were able to spend some time with him before he went.”
    â€œTwo weeks.”
    â€œThat can be a blessing . . . or not.”
    â€œIn this case it was.” To steer the conversation in a different direction, David asked, “I’m looking for aspirin. Could you tell me where they are?”
    â€œI’ll show you.” She parked her cart and motioned for him to follow.
    David marveled at how comfortable Barbara obviously felt being with him. There was none of the anger or chagrin he would have expected her to feel depending on the reason Carly had told her about the breakup.
    At the end of the second aisle, Barbara stopped, took a box off the shelf, and handed it to him. “This is the brand I use.”
    He nodded in thanks and made a move to leave before she could ask him something he really didn’t want to answer. “I wish I had more time to visit, but I have a dozen things that need doing this afternoon.”
    â€œHave you seen Carly?”
    He could pretend he hadn’t heard her and just keep going. She would understand. She’d always understood him when he didn’t want to talk about things that hurt him, like when his mother had died. “Yes,” he admitted.
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œTwo days ago.”
    Barbara frowned. “She didn’t tell me.”
    â€œI’m not surprised. The visit didn’t go all that well.”
    â€œEthan?”
    Sensors awakened in David’s mind. Barbara knew a whole lot more about what had happened back then than Carly had led him to believe. She wasn’t just pumping him for information, she was afraid of the answers he might give. “I guess it all boils down to Thomas Wolfe being right, you really can’t go home again.”
    A sadness flickered across her eyes. “You never should have left.”

Six

    David’s breath created billowy clouds of fog that blocked his vision as he tried and failed to insert his room key into