Burn Season novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Twentieth of August

The ring broke up slowly, in small quiet pieces.

The manager said Fairbanks was not a roster matter and called the vote closed until Monday.

Kasey sat down with her hands in her lap and her eyes wet.

Bea tried to follow me, and I shook my head.

Verna stood by the woodpile as I passed.

"Coffee when you're done," she said.

I went up the trail to the first bend, where the pines gave way to a slab of granite.

I stopped and waited.

The crutch tapped behind me.

Walker came around the corner and halted ten feet away.

He didn't cross to my side.

It was my line, and he was keeping it, though I had broken it myself.

"You knew," I said.

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Since the twentieth of August."

I had expected that answer.

It still landed hard.

"The morning I left for Idaho," I said.

"Kasey found me in the loft before the plane. She had your letter in her hand."

He kept his eyes on mine.

"She said it had fallen out of your duffel. She said she thought I deserved to know before you were gone."

"And you read it."

"I read it twice."

"You didn't say anything."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Burn Season from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.