Between Then and Now Read Online Free Page A

his brother never did
get over that breakup. “Where is she now, still in
Calgary?”
    “ Chicago.” Kyle picked up the saw
he’d come for and moved to the back door.
    “ Five hour drive, less in the
middle of the night. You ever think about just getting in your
truck?”
    This was deeper and meaner than their
conversations usually went. Ever, really. But Kyle had picked at
his scab—Ian was just returning the favour.
    His brother scrubbed a hand across his jaw.
“All the time, man. All the fucking time.”
    “ What’s stopping you?”
    “ I can’t bear the thought of
hurting her again.”
    “ Who says you’d hurt
her?”
    “ We’re not you and Carrie, okay?
There’s no happy ever after for me and Laney. Everyone around here
needs to get that straight.”
     
    Preschool days were the best. There
was something about being temporarily childfree that increased her
productivity by five-hundred percent. After dropping Kaylie at
school and Drew at the half-day program in the Presbyterian church
basement, Carrie cut back across downtown Wardham for the main road
to Essex, the larger town near the freeway.
    She’d come to love their sleepy little
village, but downtown had seen better days. Not for the first time,
Carrie mused on how a few small changes would make a big
difference. There had been a few attempts to bring tourist dollars
to town, but they’d been focused on nostalgia—Wardham needed to
move into the 21st century. The outdoor hockey tournament was a
great draw, but a modern, attractive arena would be a good blizzard
backup. Of course, that wasn’t an original idea, and the town
council and small business association had been at odds over the
investment for years. If she was a local business person,
she’d…
    She’d what? Carrie sighed to herself. Her imagination could run off with a
dozen ideas of fun businesses she’d start up. She’d thought about
talking to the West brothers more than once but always chickened
out. No, not chickened out. Wised up to reality. She had enough on
her plate as it was, she didn’t need to start something new. And
really, where would she even start?
    She needed to appreciate the good life that
she had. She’d come a long way from the little apartment over the
laundromat on Wyandotte Street, saving all her pennies.
    Ha. So what if she hadn’t gone to England.
Here she was, driving to Essex, and if the shops there didn’t have
what she needed, she’d head to Windsor next. Not quite the same
thing. The countryside between the towns was lovely enough, but she
imagined the British communities were much more picturesque. Not
that Carrie would ever know. At one time, she planned to backpack
through Europe. She’d been working at a country & western bar
in Windsor, hustling hard for tips from drunk wannabe cowboys, when
she met Ian.
    That night changed everything.
    He wasn’t wearing the hat or boots,
but he had the swagger, and he could dance better than most. He
stayed to last call, and she surprised both of them by inviting him
back to her apartment. He gave a sober buddy his keys and told him
to come back for him in the morning.
    He’d been cute. More than cute. She hadn’t
been able to stop watching him, and she caught his eye enough that
she knew the feeling was mutual.
    If she’d had any doubts he was a real deal
country boy, they disappeared when he unabashedly stripped down to
nothing—the sun had kissed his arms to mid-bicep, although his
torso wasn’t without a faint tan. She’d thought lazily that maybe
he had a pond. She’d like to go skinny dipping with him. Leap onto
his back and wrap her legs around his lean hips. Hold on to his
broad shoulders and press her naked breasts into his back and drift
into the cool water together.
    As he opened his button-fly jeans,
revealing snug briefs underneath, she’d whispered for him to stop.
He was hard and sinewy in all the right places, with shadows and
valleys she wanted to explore with her mouth and hands