“Can we see Uncle Gabe when we get there?”
Gabe moved to Hope Falls four years ago and it had been hard on Bree, who was only two at the time. She loved her uncle and even though she only saw him a few times a year, she talked about him every day. Glenn planned to go to the fire station after he met with Lucky and did a walk-through of the facility.
“Yep.” He answered her question as they passed the Welcome to Hope Falls sign and relief spread through him.
They’d made it. He started to tell Bree that they were finally there, but when he glanced in the rearview mirror he noticed she was entranced in the movie that she was watching on her iPad so he decided to drive the final five minutes of their journey in peace.
As Glenn drove through the town, he was struck again by just how quaint the place was. It seemed to surprise him every time he visited. The town was nestled in the Sierra Nevada’s, tucked away like a hidden jewel. There were pine trees and aspens as far as the eye could see and a river that ran alongside Main Street. The downtown area was lined with wooden sidewalks and boasted mom and pop shops. String lights hung on black light posts and everyone greeted their neighbor with a smile.
He’d been coming to Hope Falls since he was a kid. His dad’s only brother, his Uncle Sean, lived there with his wife and four kids. Now all of his cousins were married and a couple of them had kids of their own.
His cousin Amy had twins who were a year older than Bree. His cousin Jake had a son and daughter who were around Bree’s age, too. And his brother Gabe had his son who was in high school and twin girls who were Bree’s age.
Glenn hoped that Bree would enjoy being surrounded by cousins and wondered if maybe then she’d stop asking him for a baby brother or sister. Something that would be impossible to give her considering the fact that he’d sworn off dating until she was in college.
When Bree was two, he’d dated a woman named Monique for six months. Bree still asked about her. His daughter just got too attached to people. He didn’t want women coming in and out of her life. It was a small sacrifice to make in order to create a stable environment for the most important person in his world.
“Daddy, look!” Bree shouted as she pointed out her window.
He glanced to the left and saw something that would cause most people to do a double take. A Great Dane and a Chihuahua were walking down the street like they owned the town. He’d never witnessed the sighting in person, but he had plenty of texts from his family of the two canines trotting down Main Street.
The canine duo had been escaping their homes and coming downtown to get ice cream for going on a decade now. He had to admit, seeing it in person was even funnier than in pics.
“That’s your Aunt Amy and Aunt Nikki’s dogs, Scooby and Scrappy Doo.” Even though technically Amy and Nikki were Bree’s second cousins, he just referred to them as aunts.
“They are?!”
“Yep.”
He thought about notifying his cousins about their dogs’ whereabouts, but he watched as people waved at the dogs and said hi to them, so he figured that they were fine. His cousin Jake was the fire chief, and his cousin Eric was the chief of police so even if the dogs got into trouble, he was pretty sure they would get out of it.
As they drove past the fire station and pulled into Lucky’s Gym, he noticed a coffee shop across the street. He made a mental note to stop in there before he headed over to his Uncle Sean and Aunt Rosalie’s house where they were spending the night tonight.
He was in desperate need of caffeine.
“Are we here?!” Bree asked excitedly.
Glenn sighed. “Yes, Peanut. We’re here.”