ChapterTwo
Back home
Lilly pulled her car into the small, rundown gas station that was about thirty minutes outside of Burkett—the town she’d grown up in.
She stopped in front of one of the two pumps, both brown and rusted around the edges, making it clear they’d been here a while.
A bell chimed twice and signaled the attendant to come out to pump the patron’s gas. It was old school, but then again a lot of things in Burkett were that way
A grease splattered young man jogged toward her car, mindful of the dusting of snow and ice covering the ground. Pellets of salt had been thrown down, but it was still snowing, and she knew it would be for the next few months.
Winter had finally come to Burkett, and it wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.
She rolled the driver’s side window down when he stopped in front of it, a big grin pasted on his dirty face.
“What can I do for you, Miss?”
“Can you please fill the tank up?” She leaned back in her seat as he pumped the gas, her mind blank and void of any and all emotion. She would not cry in the parking lot of a gas station.
It was during the quiet times that she remembered the good times she had had with her boys.
They had been called the Quartet ever since they were toddlers. Christian Reive had always been the rambunctious one with a head full of auburn hair and eyes so blue they rivaled the Caribbean. No one had been surprised when he opened his own construction company.
He built incredible cabins and buildings in Burkett and the surrounding areas. Christian’s talent had built the place where Riley now resided.
Tallin Draven had always been the strong and silent type, the ladies’ man as the other boys had dubbed him. He’d joined the military after college and moved up the ranks to become Special Ops.
But he also had that bad boy streak going on, with the leather jacket, the Harley, and even tattoos on his muscular body.
But last she heard he was no longer on active duty, and living in Burkett again.
Riley McKnight was the brains of the group, the sweet, caring friend that had always been her shoulder to cry on, always been there to talk to when she had something on her mind. His gentleness and intelligence had taken him in the right direction and profession.
That intelligence made him the best doctor in their area, in Colorado, if anyone asked her. Then there had been her, the only girl in Burkett who had dared to put up with the three of them.
Put up with the three of them.
Lilly couldn’t help but smile at that. Yeah, they’d put up with her tagging along on their “boy” excursions. But they’d never complained, and in fact always said they wouldn’t be a team without her.
She had just spoken to Christian a week ago, had just heard the deep baritone of his voice as he talked about getting the four of them together again after all these years. She had meant to come down, but with working at the firm, she hadn’t found much time.
It was too late, though. Christian was already gone, and she would never see him again.
She felt a tear slip down her cheek and quickly wiped it away. She’d taken a leave of absence, the loss of her friend hitting her so hard she couldn’t even think straight, let alone go back to work.
She’d enough time and money saved up that she didn’t even have to worry about working for a while.
“Anything else, ma’am?”
She turned her head toward the young man. The scent of grease, oil, and gas permeated the air, and instantly her stomach recoiled. She shook her head, handed him the money and a generous tip, and drove off.
Twenty minutes later, she was pulling into Burkett, the sights bringing back memories and putting a smile on her face. Nothing had changed in the years she’d been away, and she was thankful for the feeling of being home.
The snowcapped mountains towering in the horizon reminded her of the trips the four of them used to take, the weekend camping getaways where they’d huddled by the fire, drank beer and whiskey, and laughed at the stupid shit they’d done.
She turned off her car and sat in the parking lot of the local grocery store. It wasn’t anything big, minuscule compared to what she was used to, living in Denver, but it reminded her of happier times.
She stared at the mountains, remembering when the four of them had gone skiing for the first time as a group. It had taken all of her coaxing to talk her parents into letting her go with Tallin, Christian, and Riley.