Page 38 of Close to Heaven

Avery smiled as Dakota’s fingers tapped out a response.

“Happy now?” Dakota teased as she placed the phone back in her purse.

“Yes, and admit it, so are you.”

“Ask me again after the date,” Dakota said.

Soon Avery was pulling into her dad’s driveway, but when she reached the crest of the hill, she was surprised to see his truck was gone.

“That’s odd.”

“What is?”

“It doesn’t look like he’s home, but I told him we were coming over this afternoon.”

“Maybe he parked in the garage.”

Avery shook her head. “He hasn’t parked in the garage for years. He uses it for storage instead.” That was something else she planned to talk to him about. She didn’t like the idea of him slipping on the icy driveway in the wintertime. She’d feel better if he got into his truck from inside the warm, dry garage. “Wait here while I go up to the house.”

“Okay,” said Dakota, eyeing her with concern.

Avery left the Jeep running and went up to the front porch. She tried the door handle, and sure enough, it was open. Poking her head inside, she called, “Dad?” No answer. She went inside and called his name again, though she could tell he wasn’t there. She entered the kitchen and glanced around. His puzzle was still spread out on the dining room table, and she was pleased to see he’d put in a lot more pieces since she’d last been there. That had to be a good sign, right?

Then she looked at the kitchen counter and saw his coffee mug sitting next to a pad of paper. She hesitated to invade his privacy, but then she looked, thinking it might give her a clue as to his whereabouts. It was a grocery list, and as she scanned it, she noticed some of the items were listed twice. She deduced that he’d probably gone to the grocery store and forgotten to take the list. She couldn’t even call and read it to him over the phone since his cell phone was also on the kitchen counter.

“Oh, Dad,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“Everything okay?” Dakota asked when Avery rejoined her.

“It looks like he went to the grocery store…without his list.”

“Oh no.”

“I know that sort of thing can happen to anyone, but it didn’t happen to him before his diagnosis.”

“Sorry, sweetie. At least, now that you’re back, you can check on him regularly.”

“Yeah, even though he tries to tell me not to.”

“I’m sure he appreciates you being here.”

Avery nodded, recalling that Carl and Jax had recently told her that. And here I go thinking about Jax again.

Soon she was pulling into the driveway of Sweet Dreams. She and Dakota hopped out, and they were unloading the bags from the backseat when Cody rode up in his oversized white pick-up truck.

“Need a hand?” he called out the window.

“Yes!” Dakota said.

Cody hopped out of the truck and gathered most of the bags in his hands. “Did you leave anything at the store?” he teased as he followed them into the cabin.

“Most of this is mine,” Avery admitted as he set the bags on the couch.

“Even this one?” He pointed to the bag from the lingerie store and smirked.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Dakota scolded. Then she sniffed the air a couple of times. “Wait a minute. Are you wearing cologne?”

“Yeah, so?” Cody replied.