He gets out and comes around to my side, opening my door. I sit there for a moment, frozen, until he holds out his hand. “I’ve got you,” he says.
I take his hand and let him help me down from the truck. My legs feel shaky, but I make myself put one foot in front of the other as we walk toward the entrance where my sister and colleagues are waiting.
Lennon rushes forward, wrapping me in a hug that’s just this side of too tight. “You’re really doing this?” she whispers in my ear.
“I’m really doing this,” I confirm, hugging her back just as fiercely.
She pulls back, examining my face. “You look good. Better than I expected.”
“Thanks to him,” I say, nodding toward Devlin, who’s hanging back, giving us space.
Payton steps forward next, her usual energetic self. “We cleaned everything up,” she tells me, her voice softer than normal. “And Joseph rearranged some of the shelving, so it…it doesn’t look the same as before.”
I swallow hard, touched by the thoughtfulness. “Thank you.”
Joseph, who’s been my boss since I started and has never once shown much emotion, clears his throat. “We’re glad to have you back, Atlee. Take it easy today, all right? Short shifts this week.”
“I will,” I promise.
The four of them—Lennon, Payton, Joseph, and Devlin—form a loose circle around me, and I realize what they’re doing. They’re creating a buffer, making it easier for me to walk through those doors again. My throat tightens with emotion.
“Ready?” Joseph asks.
I nod, and we move forward as a group. As we reach the door, Devlin hangs back. I turn to him, questioning.
“I’ll be here to pick you up when your shift ends,” he says, his eyes holding mine. “You’ve got this,” he repeats his words from earlier.
“Thank you,” I say, wishing I had better words to express what I’m feeling. But he seems to understand, nodding once before stepping back.
As I turn to enter the store, I catch sight of Deputy Noah Sanchez across the street. He’s not looking at me, though. His gaze is fixed on Devlin, watching intently as he gets back in his truck. There’s something in his expression that makes me uneasy. I make a mental note to tell Devlin about it later.
The bell above the door chimes as we enter, and I flinch at the sound, memories of that day threatening to overwhelm me. But Lennon’s hand is steady on my back, Payton is chattering about the new inventory that came in, and Joseph is leading the way toward the pharmacy counter. I take a deep breath and follow them, my feet remembering the path even as my mind races with anxiety.
The pharmacy section has been rearranged, just as Payton said. The counter where I was standing when the robbery happened has been moved, and the display that was knocked over has been replaced with something entirely different. It’s still the same place, but different enough that I don’t immediately flash back to that moment.
“We thought it might help,” Joseph says quietly, noticing my reaction. “Give you a fresh start.”
“It does help,” I assure him, running my hand along the new counter. “Thank you.”
Lennon stays for another ten minutes, fussing over me until I finally convince her that I’m okay to work my shift. “I’ll call you on my break,” I promise her. “And Devlin is picking me up afterward.”
She eyes me knowingly. “Things are getting serious there, huh?”
“I don’t know what they are,” I admit. “But they’re something.”
“Just be careful with your heart,” she says, squeezing my hand. “And call me if you need anything.”
After she leaves, Payton shows me the changes they’ve made to the workflow while I was gone, and Joseph goes over the reduced schedule he’s created for me this week. By the time the store opens for customers, I’m feeling almost normal, focused on the familiar routine of my job.
The first customer through the door is Mrs. Henderson, an elderly woman who comes in every first Monday of the month for her blood pressure medication. She takes one look at me, and her eyes widen.
“Oh, Atlee, honey,” she says, reaching across the counter to pat my hand. “I heard what happened. Are you all right?”
I paste on my best professional smile, the one I’ve perfected over years of lying about my family life. “I’m doing much better. Thank you for asking.”
“Well, we’ve all been praying for you,” she tells me earnestly. “The whole town was just sick about it. That man’s not from around here, you know. Some drifter passing through.”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak. The thought that everyone in town knows what happened to me, and has been discussing it, makes my skin crawl. But I shouldn’t be surprised. News travels fast in Grizzly River.
