“No, James, it’s okay. He can’t hurt me anymore.” Evelyn’s voice shakes. There’s a sarcastic chuckle in her voice and she turns to look at him. “You can’t be here. I’ve found my place and I’m not hiding from you. There’s nothing you can do to me now.”
Ryan appears through the window and gives me a nod. Hank’s cruiser pulls to the curb and he flashes his headlights at us.
“Ah, the gang’s all here. That’s perfect timing.” I flash Laken a shit-eating grin and wave Ryan inside.
“Howdy,” Ryan tips his hat to me.
"I haven't done anything.”
Ryan cuts in. “Oh you have. We were able to find a whole bunch of little things you’ve done, stalking, impersonating an officer, destruction of property to name a few.”
“Evelyn, what the hell is this?” Laken’s hands fly.
“Don’t talk to her. Talk to me. Becausethisis me giving you an opportunity to leave Iron Peak on your own. You won’t be back. But you do get to choose how we do this. You might want to take your time, there won't be a second chance.”
“This is insane. You people are insane. I’m just trying to talk. I’m fucking out of here. You deserve each other. You’re all fucking crazy.”
“Good choice, I was super worried for a minute there.” Jocelyn gives him a thumbs up.
Ryan puts a hand on his belt buckle. “Hank and I will go ahead and follow you to the outskirts of town. Just to keep everyone honest.”
“I appreciate it.”
When the door closes, Evelyn grips the desk with both hands and shakes. The full-body tremors I see in her make me want to run after Laken myself. But instead, I fly to her side. It only takes two steps to get my hand on the back of her neck.
"Iron Peak takes care of its own," June says. “He can’t hurt you.”
12
epilogue: evelyn
Six Months Later
Iron Peak in the changing season is almost too beautiful to be real.
The waterfalls are roaring. Snowmelt pours off the canyon walls in white ribbons that throw rainbows across Main Street every afternoon like clockwork. The hot springs steam softer now and thin curls of white drift through warm air.
The cliffs that felt like walls when I drove in five months ago don't feel like walls anymore. They feel like arms.
I wake up in James's bed. Well, it’s our bed now technically. I haven't slept at my cabin in three weeks, and most of my books have migrated to his shelves here. My shampoo is in his shower and there's a second mug in his cabinet that he bought without telling me. Which I discovered on a Tuesday and cried about because apparently I'm a person who cries over mugs now.
He's already up.
The smell of coffee reaches the bedroom. I stretch in sheets that smell like him and me and I am so happy it feels illegal. I can’t believe this is my life. My mind drifts back to that day in the library when Laken came for me.
From the ladies at the library to Hank and Ryan, I was protected. The whole town closed ranks around me and that hasn’t changed. I was never going to have to do this by myself. Since then the library has become even more of a home away from home for me.
I’m setting up for our two week long read-a-thon kickoff. It’s a program I built from the ground up. June calls the best thing this library has done in a decade. We have forty-seven kids registered and a waiting list. We also have a budget that Jocelyn helped me charm out of the town council with a PowerPoint and homemade banana bread.
And at the center of it all is a man who has captured my heart. He’s taught me how to trust again and in the months we’ve been inseparable, I’ve given myself to him in every way.
This morning, I find him on the porch. He’s shirtless in jeans with bare feet and coffee in hand. There’s nothing I love more than tattoos dark against tanned skin in the morning. He turns when the screen door creaks and his face does the thing.
Not the ghost smile. The real one.
I take the coffee out of his hand, drink from it, and hand it back. He pulls me in by the hem of the henley. James kisses me slowly and my heart races.
"I have to go set up the library," I murmur against his mouth.
