Page 95 of Gunnar

“Yes,” I say, a little too quickly.

He opens the center console. “There should be a pen in there. Maybe some paper.”

I lean over and rummage around. “Yeah—got it.”

“Make a list,” he says. “Anything you need.”

My heart lifts a little. There are a few things I’ve been missing.

“Okay.”

I smooth the scrap of paper against my knee and start writing.

More food for Tabitha, for one. She’s used to eating commercial food—I don’t think she’s ready to switch to a full-on raw diet just yet.

Then there are a couple of toiletries I need as well.

I keep going, adding one, then another, scribbling things down as they occur to me.

Gunnar pulls into a strip mall and cuts the engine. The sight of it—familiar, ordinary—settles something in me.

He glances over. “Alright. What do we need?”

I hand him the list. “Cat food and toiletries. Mostly.”

He scans it, then looks up. “We can get all this here?”

“Sure can.”

He frowns slightly. “No books?”

I blink. “What?”

“I’m guessing you read. And those books up at the lodge have seen better days.”

“Oh-yeah,” I say haltingly, touched that he’d think of such a thing. “I guess I am.”

He shrugs. “Not a whole lot to do at the Lodge. Figure you might want some entertainment. Write down a few titles. I’ll see if I can find them.”

With a flicker of excitement, I add a few titles quickly, trying to remember what’s on my wish list.

“Alright.” He gives me a lingering look. “I’ll be back soon.”

I shift in my seat and watch him move from one store to the next. A couple of people greet him as he passes, but he doesn’t stop—just nods and keeps going, like a man on a mission.

Before long, he’s back, arms full of bags.

He opens the back door, drops them onto the seat, then climbs in and hands one to me.

A bookshop bag.

It was the last place he went.

As he starts the engine, I pull the books out, already smiling.

“Oh my God—you got all of them.”

“Sure did.” He smiles, easy, like it didn’t cost him anything.