Finders Keepers by Nicole Williams Read Free Book Online

under the rug and forget about it.
    “It’s fine, Garth. I’ve just been enjoying the bounty of
God’s workmanship.”
    I forced myself to return his smile. The chaplain had drunk
way too much of the Kool-Aid in Sunday school as a child.
    “How much longer would you like to wait for the rest? Don’t
worry about me, because I’ve got the whole afternoon open.”
    The chaplain and I might have lived on opposite ends of the
spectrum, but he was an all right kind of guy. Despite being a little out of
touch with reality. “You might as well do your thing because I’m the only one
coming.”
    The chaplain indicated just over my shoulder. “Either
fisherman have started wearing formal wear to pull trout out of the river, or
you’ve got company.”
    My sigh cut short as soon as I saw who it was. “What the
hell are you two doing here? This is a funeral, not a wedding.”
    “Good to see you too, Black,” Jesse replied, helping Rowen
over a few rocks in the trail. “How are you doing?”
    “I’m fucking on top of the world. Can’t you tell?”
    “I’m not sure that fuck ’s allowed at a funeral,
Black.” Rowen shot me a wink as she and Jesse came up beside me.
    “Why not? Clay was that word’s number one fan. The profanity
and the act.” The chaplain looked off into the distance.“How in the hell did
you two know what was going on today?” I couldn’t decide if I was pissed or
relieved they’d shown up. I definitely felt a bit of both. I’d seen Jesse and
Rowen a couple of days ago, pretty much right after they got in from Seattle,
but I hadn’t mentioned a thing to either one of them about the funeral.
    “You called in sick today,” Jesse answered, nudging me.
“You’ve never called in sick before. Not even the day after . . . after . . .”
    “The day after the fire,” Rowen interjected. Jesse thanked
her with a smile.
    “You mean the day after Clay was burnt to such a crisp
nothing was left of him?” Jesse’s eyebrows lifted. Rowen’s came together. I
wasn’t trying to upset two of my only friends. It just went against my nature
not to. Truthfully, having them with me made the whole thing less daunting. We
were nothing more than a few friends hanging down on the riverbank, saying
good-bye to a person I wasn’t sure even deserved it.
    Rowen said, “You want to take out your anger at us today,
fine. Do it. You get a free pass. Today and today only. Tomorrow you’d better
find somewhere else to channel your anger.”
    I waited a moment for her to go into more detail, but none
came. “Or else?”
    She arched an eyebrow. “Or else.”
    “I sure have missed your veiled threats, Miss Sterling-soon-to-be-Walker.”
    “Yeah, yeah. And we’ve missed your unparalleled goodness,
too.”
    Jesse tried to keep from smiling, but that was about as easy
for him to do as it was me to keep smiling.
    “So I get that me calling in sick today alerted the dogs to
what I had planned, but how in the hell did you know where to find me?” Montana
had as many wide open spaces as there were stars in the sky. “Did you go and
install a GPS tracker on me or something?”
    Jesse stared into the sky while Rowen’s eyes locked onto mine.
“No. We followed you,” she answered with a shrug.
    I shook my head. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with trying
and failing to spin a brodie in the middle of the road and tear out of town and
never look back, I might have noticed Old Bessie tailing me. That truck was
such an atrocity it was impossible to miss. “You two are a couple of regular
ninjas, aren’t you?”
    “Hi-yah,” Rowen deadpanned, thumping the side of her hand
into my stomach.
    “And look at you, Walker. Dressed up all fancy in a suit. It
almost looks like you’re heading to your own funeral.” I elbowed his ribs,
making him elbow me right back. “Hold up. Aren’t you the whipped chump getting
married this summer? I suppose that explains why you look like you’re heading
to your own funeral.” I