“Yes, I was, and?—”
“Cade, you don’t have to do this,” Sarah interrupts me softly. “If you do this, there’s no goin’ back.”
I meet her eyes. “I don’t ever intend to go back. I’m here to stay, Dove.”
Her hand flies to her mouth, muffling a sob. She leans back in her chair like the weight of the world’s just shifted.
Marnie checks her recorder to make sure it’s still running. “Let’s start with your father. Walter Mercer. What did he say to you?”
I stare at the table grain, remembering the sharp bangof my father’s fist on wood, the thunder in his voice. “He told me we had to protect Landon. That Sarah was lying. He said she’d shut up, but I had to drive her out of town. And I—” My voice cracks. I force it out anyway. “I listened, did what he asked.”
Shame hits like a sledgehammer,again. My vision blurs.
“I never thought I’d hear you say that out loud,” Sarah whispers, ignoring that Marnie is there, as is her recorder. “Never thought I’d hear you stand on my side like this.”
I cover her hand with both of mine, holding on like it’s the only solid thing left. “I should’ve stood there ten years ago. I’ll stand now. I’ll stand every damn day from here on.”
Sarah nods, tears sliding unchecked down her cheeks.
Silence falls, broken only by the faint hum of Marnie writing on her notepad as we digest coffee, confessions, and the rawest kind of truth.
After a while, I lean back in my chair and break the silence. “Marnie, Landon and Violet showed up here a few days ago. Violet admitted that she has been paying girls off. Would you like to know exactly what she said?”
“Yes,” Marnie says hesitantly.
“I’ve got a recording.”
Both Marnie and Sarah snap their heads toward me. “You do?” they ask in unison.
“Sure do.” I tip my chin at Sarah and wink. “Colorado’s a one-party consent state. As long as I’m part of the conversation, it’s legal to record it.”
Sarah just stares at me, lips parted. “I can’t…I just can’t believe it.”
I grin, letting some humor slip in. “Dove, you really think I’d talk to those two vipers and not record every damn word?”
That earns me a smile, worth more than the finest bull on Blue Rock.
CHAPTER 38
sarah
Ican’t sleep. Not because of nightmares—though they’ve been my constant companion for years—but because, for the first time in a decade, I feel relief.
It’s fragile, like a foal learning to stand.
I sit on Cade’s porch swing, wrapped in one of Tillie’s quilts, the night quiet except for the low creak of the chains and the whisper of the wind through the cottonwoods.
The mountains loom in the dark. Their permanence soothes me.
Cade steps out and eases onto the swing beside me, his body warm against mine, the scent of soap and cedar clinging to him.
“You should be sleeping,” he says gently.
“I can’t.” My heart’s still a little raw. “But for once…it’s not fear keeping me awake.”
He slips his arm along the back ofthe swing.
“Talking to Marnie today”—I draw a cleansing breath—“I realized how much I needed to say it out loud to someone who believed me.” My throat tightens with emotion, a good one, like hope. “I feel…lighter. Like maybe the healing has finally begun. I can’t believe it took this long, you know? That I was so weak.”
