Chapter 2: Not For Sale

The drive into town only took a few minutes. When they were at the cabin, it seemed remote, like they were the only people in the state, maybe in the whole universe, but once they went down the windy gravel driveway to the asphalt road that ran into town, they were back to civilization pretty quickly.

Well, one interpretation of civilization, anyway. Cook was nothing like Denver, that was for sure. The small town only had a population of a couple of thousand people. A lot fewer houses sprawled out from the center of town than what she was used to seeing in town, and hardly any stores or restaurants lined the main drag. Her dad had assured her it wasn’t that far of a drive to a bigger city where she could get whatever she needed that Cook didn’t have—and he’d also reminded her that A****n was everywhere. It was still a bit of culture shock when they pulled into a spot at the little grocery store.

Everly got out of the SUV and had a look around. The parking lot only held spots for about twenty cars, and about half of them were full. Most of the vehicles were older models, some with more than one color of paint and plenty of dings and dents. She got the feeling most of the people who lived in Cook were just getting by.

Walking next to her dad toward the front of the store, she asked, “What do people do for a living around here?”

“There’s a lumber factory on the edge of town,” he told her.

“But… they can’t get wood from the national park.”

“No, there are wooded areas south of town that aren’t part of the parks. Most of them work there. Some of them have the sort of jobs that keep a town running—teachers, store clerks, waitresses, and waiters. The lumberyard isn’t so big.”

They reached the front of the store. The weathered green paint made it look like something from another era. Above an awning that had seen better days, a neon sign read, “General Store.” Everly wondered if this place had another name or if that was it.

When her dad pushed through the door, a bell dinged above them. Everly looked up, thinking that was a quaint touch, but then, everything about this place looked like something out of a movie set in a different time.

The scent of produce, cardboard, and something that smelled a little like spoiled milk wafted toward her, mingling together, as they walked in, and her dad pulled a cart from the rack next to the door. It didn’t surprise Everly that the wheels squeaked. A glance at the rest of the carts told her he hadn’t happened to pick the odd one out.

Jim pushed the cart up and down the aisles, despite the fact that they really only needed cleaning supplies and something nonperishable to eat for dinner. That and a few snacks would be about all they could use right now. There was no refrigerator in the cabin yet, and the propane tank wasn’t filled, so the stove wouldn’t do them any good, assuming it even worked. Her dad had ordered a refrigerator to be delivered in a few days, but until then, they wouldn’t be able to get any food that needed to be kept cold.

Still, since there were only about a dozen aisles anyway, it didn’t make much difference if they walked up and down each of them.

Everly kept her hands in her pockets, looking around as her dad hummed along with the music playing over the sound system. It was some song from the 1980s that Everly didn’t recognize without the words. She had to think that the song choice was yet another sign that she’d slipped back in time, and it was no longer the twenty-first century.

“What do you think?” Jim said, getting her attention.

Everly turned to see her dad holding a bag of dog treats. They weren’t Toby’s favorite brand, but a glance over the choices told her that they weren’t going to find those here. He’d have to get a new favorite. “Sure.”

Her dad tossed the bag into the cart and then grabbed a couple of new dog toys and tossed them in, too. It was thoughtful of him. She knew her dad didn’t always appreciate Toby the way she did. After all, he had a habit of barking at anything and everything, which got on Jim’s nerves.

Her grandmother always said Toby was just singing, which irritated her dad, too. “No one sings that badly, not even me,” he would say. Grandma Helen would laugh and pat Toby’s head.

Everly missed her so badly.

She couldn’t think about that at the moment, though. It had been about six months since she passed away. Every day, Everly told herself that Grandma was happier now. No more pain from the cancer—and she was with Grandpa.

And probably Everly’s mom.

But she didn’t know that for sure.

“Cleaning supplies?” her dad muttered, glancing up at her. Everly nodded, and Jim smoothed down his brown mustache the way he always did when he was thinking hard about something.

Cleaning supplies didn’t seem like a brain teaser to Everly, but then, Jim had never really been one to clean. Mostly Grandma Helen and Everly took care of all of that while he was working as a security guard at one of the museums in downtown Denver. He worked at night a lot, so Everly really only saw him on weekends. If nothing else, this move would bring them closer together—she hoped.

They turned down the next aisle. Everly stopped to look at the cereal brands. Some of the boxes were unrecognizable to her. They didn’t have a lot of brand names. Cereal was something that would keep, though. Since she preferred hers without milk, she may as well grab a box. Her dad didn’t seem to notice she’d stopped and kept pushing the cart, but it would only take a moment for her to catch up with him in a store this small.

She saw a box with a picture that looked a lot like the kind she usually ate and plucked it off of the shelf. In her haste to catch up with her dad, she wasn’t really paying attention and turned around without looking up.

And ran right into a brick wall.