Chris Hart owns the only grocery shop in Nortown, but he isn't exactly overrun by customers. Some days he wonders why he bothers to open the doors at all. Spending his days smiling at the few people trickling in and his nights alone in bed isn't the most interesting life a man could lead. But when Chris suddenly gets the excitement he's been craving, it may be more than he bargained for.<br><br>Gabriel Miller loves his life. He's close to his sister, has a job he adores and is the proud owner of one and a half cats. But all of it is taken away when he witnesses a murder. To keep him safe, the police place him in Nortown, of all possible locations.<br><br>Chris can't believe they're letting someone live in his gran's old cabin in the middle of the winter. It's too cold. When the poor man shows up in his shop looking to buy clothes, Chris's heart melts, despite the freezing temperature. Gabriel notices the way the shopkeeper looks at him, but it can't be right. No one looks at a heavyset man with heat in their eyes. Do they?

Pet Delivery

The flat was as depressing as any other day—maybe more so. The weather didn’t help, and the cramped rooms shrunk, little by little, for each year he lived there. The walls grew more yellow, and what he’d once thought added to the atmosphere now gave the feeling of being in an overgrown teenager’s dorm room. Chris had never been in a dorm room. He’d hardly ever left Nortown.


The shop had been in his family for generations, and when Mum had moved away, Chris couldn’t let her close it. What would Nortown be without a shop? Nothing


He threw on a clean shirt and then he added a sweater just in case. He hoped the man had kept a fire going all day. If he hadn’t, the cabin would be freezing cold. The wind blew right through it. Hopefully, Troy had made sure there was plenty of dry wood; if not, the poor guy was doomed.


Chapter 7