He looked up from his phone to Zee’s face. “Lucian’s credit cards show activity in Michigan. Nowhere near here.”
Some of the tension left her shoulders. “So it’s okay for me to do it?”
He could see she already had half a foot in that field where she planned to scatter her late husband—his friend’s—ashes.
He stepped close and lifted a hand to her face, drawing her attention back to him. “You can go. If there were even a whisper of danger, I’d never let you go alone.”
Her eyes softened to warm hazel pools. “I know.”
He kissed her, a tender brush on her lips and then her forehead. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
She held his gaze for a moment before nodding. “I won’t be long.” She turned and walked toward the parking area. He watched her every step of the way. When she got in the truck, he tracked the taillights until they were out of sight.
The sun hovered low on the horizon, casting the world in a warm, cinematic glow. Dust kicked up behind her tires, catching the light too and giving the entire scene an unreal quality.
He stood there unmoving, the shot framed in his mind like he’d lined it up for the cameras.
Only this wasn’t a shot he could call cut on.
The view didn’t relax him—it instead sharpened his senses. He didn’t like the distance from Zee. The instinct to go after her blazed like some of the pyrotechnics going off for the next scene.
He shot Theo a text.
Church:I let her go.
Theo:She’s safe. Pike is states away.
Church dragged his hand down his face, unable to shake the feeling that anything could slip past him if he dropped his guard for even a second.
The light faded, gold bleeding into deep orange. Production continued around him. Zee was on her way to the spot to scatter Matt’s ashes.
And the longer he stood there, the more it felt like the day’s calm was about to break.
* * * * *
The wind was softer out here.
Or maybe it only felt that way because Zee was alone with the murmur of the breeze through the grass, surrounded by mountains and the glorious colors of the sky.
She was glad to be away from the noise of the set. The constant hustle and bustle had been setting her on edge as the minutes ticked down to sunset.
She squeezed her fingers around the small box containing the man she had chosen for her forever. That wasn’t meant to be, and now it was time to let him go.
Matt would be in her heart always, but she needed closure.
Or at least what people called closure. She wasn’t sure such a thing existed when it came to grief, but she needed this moment anyway. In a way, she was glad she’d come alone too. Though Church would have been a solid presence at her back, it was probably better that it was just her and Matt.
Zee sucked in a slow breath, the taste of pine filling her mouth.
“You would have loved this place,” she whispered, voice carried away by the breeze. Her eyes blurred with tears as they always did when she talked to Matt.
“I don’t even know where to start.”
Three years had passed. Time and grief had changed shape so many times she barely remembered them all. Sharp and suffocating at first, then dull and constant. Finally, it had shifted into a part of her that lived under her skin instead of crushing her from the outside.
“This is where I’ve chosen to put down roots at last. Now you’ll always be here with me. With Church too.”
Her heart flexed as she fumbled with the latch of the box. When she opened the lid, she didn’t look inside, just turned the box over and let the wind do the rest.
