Dearly Departing by Geoff North (book reader for pc txt) 📕

as I know, anyway. We didn’t talk in school. She was a few years behind me. Her family moved away a couple years after that. Never heard where they ended up.”

“You’ve unloaded a lot off your chest today. It couldn’t have been easy.” She glanced over at the clock. It was after three. Dawn stood and kissed her father on the forehead. “Get some sleep. Maybe we shouldn’t try and leave too early. You’re a mess and I’m already feeling hungover.”

Ray didn’t answer. He was fast asleep.

Tyler heard a door close somewhere outside his room. He went to his, opened it, and looked both ways down the hotel corridor. No one. He returned to the desk next to the bed and sat. Probably some drunk asshole, staggering back to their room. Tyler took another long swig from the vodka bottle. “He’s not the only one.”

It was a dumb idea, heading after his girlfriend halfway across the country. It was only gut feelings he had to go on. And his gut told him she was with her father, and they were driving west. That Doole idiot had pretty much confirmed it. Where they were at this very moment was unknown. Maybe they weren’t that far ahead of him. He’d hauled ass for ten hours all the way to Calgary, averaging a speed of a hundred and thirty kilometers an hour between fuel stops.

Tyler had quickly visited his grandfather’s home before leaving Winnipeg. The old man had been collecting hand guns since before Tyler’s dad was born. He had most of them hidden away in his basement. None of them were registered.

He opened the single desk drawer and pulled one of those guns out. His grandfather also suffered from Alzheimer’s. By the time he noticed one of his Glocks was missing, Tyler would already be finished with it.

“No, it wasn’t a dumb idea.” He pressed the cold steel against his face. “You shouldn’t have done it, Dawn. We could’ve made it work. We will make it work.”

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Someone was knocking on Dawn’s door. Or they had gotten inside her head and were banging on the underside of her skull. She groaned and rolled over to see the time. Eight AM. She took a deep breath and exhaled. At least she didn’t feel like throwing up. The knocking resumed. “Come on,” she mumbled. “What happened to leaving a little later?” She got up and opened the door.

“Good morning.”

“Hey, Dad. How’d you sleep?”

“Your uncle Bruce called a few minutes ago. Grummy passed away during the night.”

“Oh.” Dawn slumped against the open door, unable to say anything else.

“He said she went peacefully. There was a nurse with her. She held her hand right to the end.” Ray pulled his daughter in and hugged her. “Sorry to wake you up with the news, and I’m sorry I didn’t get us out there in time to say goodbye.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Dawn finally said. “She lived a good, long life. It’s easier to handle knowing someone was with her.” She looked up into his eyes. “How are you?”

Ray entered the room. “I feel okay. Maybe telling you everything yesterday was what I needed. And now that Mom’s gone… it feels like a weight lifted off me. There are no more secrets to keep. When I get out there, I’m going to tell Bruce and David the truth about happened in the pig barn that summer.”

“When you get out there?”

“I gave it some thought. I think it would be better if I went the rest of the way alone. I don’t expect your uncles will take it well, and I don’t want you around to see that.”

“What am I supposed to do? Wait here until after the funeral?”

Ray shook his head. “Grummy didn’t want any kind of service. She’ll be cremated. I’m sorry, Dawn, but I need to get this over with, on my own. There’s a flight out from Calgary in three hours. I fly to Kelowna, say what needs to be said, and I take the next flight back.”

“When will that be?”

“Ten o’clock tonight. We can be back on the road for home tomorrow morning.”

Dawn was pissed off. Pissed off and disappointed. She’d been looking forward to driving through the mountains with him. She was broke. Her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t leave her alone. Grummy was dead. But this wasn’t just about her. Dawn’s father had been dealing with his own demons a lot longer. “All right. Let me get dressed and I’ll drive you to the airport.”

Tyler walked out of the 7-Eleven across from the Best Western, tore the cellophane wrap away from his pack of cigarettes, and tossed it to the ground. He lit up and started for the intersection. He froze at the corner when he saw Dawn and her father heading to a car in the hotel parking lot. He watched them get in and start driving away.

Tyler ran across the road without waiting for the light to turn. He rushed into his room, grabbed the gun out of the desk, and rushed back out to his truck. He spotted them pulling out into traffic heading the opposite direction from the Trans-Canada highway. Where were they going? That wouldn’t get them to British Colombia.

There could’ve been for a dozen different reasons, he thought. Maybe they were stopping for fuel first or going somewhere for breakfast. Tyler rushed through a red light and settled in a couple cars behind them. He laughed out loud. What were the odds of finding them like this? How incredible was it that he’d slept in the same hotel? Was it just stupid luck?

No, it wasn’t luck, he decided after a few more blocks. It was fate. This was meant to be.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

“Thank you for understanding,” Ray said as Dawn parked the