Chapter 7
Alex happily reacquired his lifelong habit of walking everywhere he needed to go. He’d thought that simple activity was lost to him once they’d left Chicago. Distance from their first house in Wolf Branch made it impractical, and often impossible in bad weather.
But their apartment changed the rhythm of their lives in more good ways than bad.
And just like in Chicago, walking in early summer after a long winter was pure joy. The sun wasn’t yet fierce enough to force him into long sleeves and a hat, with commercial sunscreen long expired. The early harvests coming into the cannery had eased enough to give him and Etan short days. They’d be glad for the break once the hectic late summer and autumn harvests rolled in.
The two of them turned the corner into the courtyard behind t
