They'd come to see Sage off on the first leg of her journey to Florida. Grandfather had bought Sage a ticket out of the small airport to Minneapolis, where she'd catch her flight south. Wendy felt tears just waiting to fall. Hurt over being left behind wouldn't leave her in peace and the sadness of being parted from her sister was worse yet. The sound of many different footsteps on the polished linoleum reminded Wendy that the three of them were not alone. Trav sauntered beside Sage, holding her hand. Behind them came the startling threesome of Elroy Dietz, Sheriff Durand, and Uncle Dutch. The reason for the strange trio accompanying them was purely circumstantial. Uncle Dutch had been expected to come to see his niece off. Elroy wanted to borrow Trav's truck, so right after Sage took off, he was going to drop Trav at his job on the way back to town and take the truck. Finally, Rodd had called and insisted on driving Wendy and Harlan because the roads were slick again. Wendy had wanted to refuse, but she'd seen that her grandfather had wanted her to accept.
