Anticipation hangs in the air for a moment, then the state rep shakes his head, clears his throat, and looks to me. “The case will be dropped. This is ridiculous, and I’ll talk to my guys to make sure we put protections around the place from now on.”
“So, Evan is cleared to go back to his place?” Carp asks, crossing his tattooed arms.
“You are,” the state guy says, glancing at me—and, to my surprise, he actually looks guilty for what I’ve been through. Maybe he’s regretting being so checked-out for the first part of this meeting. “Feel free to go back tonight. You might want to get a member of the local squad to accompany you.”
“Great,” Carp says. “There’s more food out in the general area if you’re hungry.”
“Uh… thanks,” the state guy says, but I know there’s not a chance he’s going to take any. He’s probably more than ready to get out of here.
But I don’t waste any more time thinking about him, or this situation.
Instead, I’m staring right at Amy Callaghan, who’s turned to talk to a taller, thinner woman beside her who has many of the same features, but darker hair and fewer freckles.
I think Carp says something to me, but I can’t wait another moment.
Stepping down from the makeshift witness stand, I cross the room to Amy, watching as she turns around, her eyes widening when she sees me.
This woman just saved my ass. Saved my land.
I still have a lot of questions for her, but right now—right now, the only thing I want to do is hold her in my arms again.
So I do, scooping her up, tipping her head back, and kissing her deeply. She falls into it, her hands clutching at my jacket, a little noise coming up from the back of her throat.
Her sister makes a surprised sound. Someone from the council bench—Leticia?—lets out a littlewhoop!
Normally, I hate PDA. Wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like this. But I needed to touch her, to get my hands on her. To anchor her to this moment and, somehow, find a way to tell her everything I won’t be able to get across with words.
“Evan,” she whispers when I pull back, staring at her. There are dozens of people around us, but she’s the only person I see.
“You came back,” I say, knowing my voice is coming out thick.
“I love you,” she says, her eyes darting back and forth between mine, her fingers loosening their hold on my jacket. “I love you, and I love Granite Peaks. If you’ll both have me.”
There are a million things we need to talk about. But right now, I give her my answer the only way I can.
“Okay,” the woman to her left says, breaking us out of our second kiss. “Hi—I’m Kirstin. Amy’s sister. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi,” I say, a flush rising to my cheeks, some of my self-awareness returning to my body. I keep one hand on the small of Amy’s back and hold the other out to her sister. “Thanks for coming. Interested in some of my famous chili?”
She opens her mouth as if to say no, but then glances at her sister and smiles. “You know what? Yeah, why the hell not?”
“Thanks for coming with me,”Amy says to her sister, throwing her arms around her as we stand on the sidewalk outside of the town hall, one of the off-duty cops standing by to take me back up to the cabin.
“Of course,” her sister says, squeezing her back, then shooting me a look over her shoulder. Stepping away from Amy, Kirstin throws her arms around me, too, then pulls back and narrows her eyes at me. “I don’t want to do the whole clichéif you hurt my sisterthing because I know she’s more likely to hurt you. So just keep that in mind.”
I laugh, thinking back to that first night Amy stayed with me, when she was stranded up in the mountains. The way she’d said,I’m armed, so confidently that it nearly made me shit my pants.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Then, we’re making the drive up to the cabin, the cop is taking down the tape at the end of the driveway, and Amy, Blue, and I are driving up to the little building. I only realize how much I’ve missed it when I feel my throat get thick at the sight of it.
It’s been less than a week, but I feel like I’ve been away for years.
At first, I walk through the place, examining every nook and cranny to make sure nothing has gone wrong. The water stores are fine, and the solar panels have stayed clear. Other than a bit of accumulated dust, the place seems okay.
“Evan,” Amy says, tugging on my arm to stop me from doing a third walk-through. When I turn to her, I realize for the first time that she looks slightly nervous, and that gives me pause. “Maybe you should look again in the morning. With fresh eyes, daylight, all that.”
“Yeah,” I say, scratching the back of my neck and laughing. “Maybe I should.”
