I shake my head. “I don’t. Me and Hopper have some of the same experiences, but…” I pause to think through what I want to say. “It’s weird that our reactions are so different, right?”
Hedy shakes her head. “You’re two separate people. You’re bound to have anywhere from slightly to vastly different reactions, even if you had the same experiences.”
I let out a huff, laughing at a silly thought.
“What’s that about?”
“The thing I’m most worried about is that they’re going to kick me out of our little murder group chat.”
She laughs. “They would never. They love you too much.”
“That’s what Erik said.”
She smiles warmly. “Erik is good for you, isn’t he?”
I can’t help the size of my smile, thinking back to this morning’s sex and how he respected me enough to get so fucking disrespectful. “He really is.”
“Does anything about that scare you?”
I shake my head. “He was the scared one, at least initially. He was so afraid of ever treating me like those men treated me.”
“Did he finally figure out not wanting to do that meant he would never do that?”
“Pretty much.”
We walk for a little bit, then Hedy turns to me, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“So if I had a job offer from Wimberley for you,” she starts, and I’m already shaking my head.
“No, thank you. Though I hope that doesn’t make them mad at me.”
It’s her turn to shake her head. “Not at all. There are plenty of things to do at Wimberley that don’t involve violence. Or too much violence, I should say. But…maybe it’s best for you to take a few months and figure out what it is you want to do and be.”
I nod. “That sounds good. I feel better knowing I don’t have to decide right now.”
“You have all the time in the world, my friend,” she says, stopping to hug me.
We take Sparkle back to his stall and rejoin my family for breakfast. I may not know what my next move is, but I know I’ll have the support I need when I’m ready.
28
ERIK
Watching Levy and Bram put together the final touches on Friday night dinner, I hang up my phone and think about how lucky I am. I just spoke with Trip Goodnight over at Rebel Sky. He learned Ant’s family was in town for the foreseeable future and wanted to make sure they knew they could join us for Sunday dinner.
I joked, asking him how he could possibly fit everyone into his house, and his reply was simple. “When there’s enough love, there’s no such thing as too many people.”
I thought that was a little sappy, but then again, I couldn’t exactly deny the sentiment, given how crowded the bunkhouse is tonight.
I’d like for it to be a bit more crowded since Charlie hasn’t had a chance to meet Ant’s grandparents, and I know they want to thank him. He and Justin had to pick up a friend from the airport, so we’re just going to have a big breakfast tomorrow morning for everyone.
In addition to Ant’s family, we have two special guests: Beckett, my priest friend-slash-ex-fuck buddy, and Ginger, the young woman responsible for helping us find Ant.
Like a few of the people we’ve rescued, she works with Beckett, volunteering at the same group home. Even better, the strung-out underweight girl I met in that warehouse a little over a year ago is now sober and healthy, her shiny, curly hair the color of copper pennies.
Ant barely lets her step out of the car before wrapping her in a big hug. They hold each other for several minutes, speaking in hushed tones.
Yaya, Emil, and theabueloscome up right behind him and shower her with more love than I bet she’s ever received in her entire life. Something tells me we’re going to see a lot more of her.
