“Thank you.”
She sits back down across from me but doesn’t pick her book up again. “Are you enjoying the farm?”
I nod. “I am. Thank you for letting me stay here for a while.” Fuck, have I thanked her before now? I don’t think I have.
“No need to thank me. We’re happy to have you.” Her smile is warm, and it reminds me so much of my mom that my heart clenches painfully in my chest. “You stay as long as you need.”
“What if I need forever?”
I’m trying to be flippant, but the words come out far more seriously than I mean for them to.
Millie doesn’t seem bothered either way. Her shoulders rise in a shrug. “Guess it’s a good thing you’re great with the animals.”
Is she serious? Holy shit. “I do love the animals,” I say, trying to ignore the way my heart is pounding. “I promise if I stay much longer, I’ll find a job.”
She shrugs again. “Only if you want to. I want to give you time and space to heal.”
I consider that for a second. There’s something too knowing in her tone. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
Her brows draw together. “Theo Baker.”
I sigh. “That’s not what I mean.”
She studies me for a second and then nods. “I know who you are. Tohim.”
“Does everyone in town?” I ask, throat aching at the possibility.
She leans forward, bracing her elbows on the table and wrapping her hands around her mug of coffee. “I’m sure some of them do. It was big news around these parts. What Austin did to that vile excuse of a man.”
Swallowing hard, I try for a smile. “I bet it was. Not every day someone gets beaten to death in a small town like this.”
“No.” She sighs. “It’s good, though. He deserved what he got. Everyone in town knows that. Luca is one of our own. And if itwasn’t Austin… Well, it just mighta been someone else. We don’t take too kindly to people hurting ours.”
I wonder what that’s like—to have that level of community. Damien isolated Luca too. He lived in an entirely different state, lost contact with all his friends here, and, unlike me, his parents are dead. I hope mine aren’t dead anyway.
“That’s good. I’m glad he came back here. He needed his community.”
Millie hums, eyeing me over her mug. “And what about you?”
“Me? What about me?”
“Don’t you need a community?”
Everyone needs a community, but I pretty much survived Damien on my own. I survived the hospital stay after he sliced me open, the court hearings, and the divorce proceedings. I thought it might kill me, but I even survived him walking free despite the proof of his crimes that lives permanently on my skin.
“Sure,” I mumble. “Don’t we all?”
There’s that warm smile again. “We do, indeed. Stick around, dear, and you’ll become one of ours too.”
“Hey.” Hunter’s voice in the doorway drags my attention away. “What’s going on?”
I’m too busy swallowing the lump in my throat to answer.
“I’m just letting Theo know we’ve got his back, and he’s more than welcome to stay as long as he wants.”
Hunter makes his way across the room and plants a lingering kiss on the top of my head. He smells like the earth. Warm and solid. And slightly of clean sweat. Fuck, it’s so intoxicating. I could bury my nose in his skin and inhale the scent of him forever.
“That we do,” Hunter whispers into my hair before standing. “I’m gonna run into town to pick up some goat and chicken feed. Do you wanna come with me?”
