I was like a hermit crab when I grieved, balled up tight within my shell. I wasn’t even sure if I was grieving for my cousin or for my brokenheart.
It was the first time a guy had broken it. Mom used to say that I needed my heart to be broken to know when the right man came along. She said the right one would fit all the pieces together and would fill all the fissures with his love to make sure it never crackedagain.
Who’s going to put your heart back together now that Daddy’s gone?I’d askedher.
Her blue eyes gentled, and she gathered me against her side on our ratty denim couch that had been patched many times over.Your dad didn’t break my heart, Ness. He left with half ofit.
Car tires crunched on the road next to me, spraying tiny rocks into my ankles. “Ness, get in thecar.”
I stared at the luminous shapes the twin beams cast on the shrubs lining theroad.
“It’ll take you hours to reachtown.”
“I’m not in any rush,August.”
For the first time in years, my agenda was empty. Sure, I’d need to look for a job, but I wouldn’t have to do thattomorrow.
Tomorrow I could sleepin.
I could stare at myceiling.
Or watchTV.
Or lunch with Sarah in the middle of theafternoon.
After the grief and stress of the last few days, I felt like I could finally breathe again. Which was strange considering Creeks might be in Boulder and a man who deserved to perish was still alive and Everest wasdead.
“By God, Dimples, you’re as stubborn as when you were akid.”
I smirked, flicking my gaze to August. It felt good to sport an expression that wasn’t incensed or weepy. “Were you expecting me to havechanged?”
August’s eyes flashed in the darkness of his car. “To have matured. I’d expected you to havematured.”
“If the mark of maturity is becoming biddable, then I hope I never mature, AugustWatt.”
He shook his head. “You’re really going to walk eleven more miles in the dark inheels?”
“You’re right.” I slid off my heels, hooking them onto my fingertips, then proceeded to the thin strip of grass edging the road to cushion my footfalls. “It’s easier withoutheels.”
He growled. “Ness, come on. I’m being serioushere.”
“You’re always so serious. You should lighten up. Maybe take up barefoot promenades under the stars. They’re very soothing.” I looked at the sky and tried to find the constellations he’d taught me to find so many years ago. “Is that Andromeda or Cassiopeia? I can never tell between thetwo.”
When he didn’t answer my question, I turned toward him. Instead of looking at the sky, he was staring atme.
“Not interested in constellations anymore?” Iasked.
“I’ll tell you which one it is if you get in thecar.”
I tipped him a crooked smile. “Nice try, but it would take way more to get me off this road and into thattruck.”
“Ness, this isn’t a joke. Creeks are running amok in our woods. Theykilledyourcousin.”
And he’d justkilledmy mood. “So what, August? I should live my life in fear now? I’m not invincible. I know that. If anything, Everest’s death has really brought this home, but I’m also not going to hide. They killed my cousin for a reason, and I doubt that reason was because he was a Boulderwolf.”
August loosed another exasperated growl. “Negotiating with terrorists is easier than withyou.”
And just like that, my smile was back. “So?Andromeda?”
