As their laughter rolled over the porch, Cassie turned to the driveway, where Luanne and her mama stood talking with Ollie, while Becca and Brady chased their two toddlers through the garden, the boys laughing.
“You remember when Cas and Con would run the aisles at the mill, collectin’ scrap paper like they was buried treasure?”Charlie said, his deep voice mellowed by memory.“Poor Birdie nearly wore out a broom tryin’ to keep ’em from crawlin’ into the baler chute.”
“Drove us all half-mad,” Margie said.“Them Berry babies could sure make the walls sing.”
Eunice chuckled.“Oh, I don’t doubt it.Con was smart as a whip but Lord, that boy could find trouble.I remember him tyin’ up his jacket sleeves, sayin’ he was makin’ a parachute.Then he climbed to the top of the monkey bars and jumped clean off before anyone could stop him.Landed flat on his back—wind knocked clear out of him.I thought he was unconscious ‘til he sat up and said, ‘Did it look cool?’”
As laughter rose again, Cassie closed her eyes.It had been like this for hours—stories about her and Connor as kids, memories of their parents, moments that felt both deeply hers and strangely borrowed from someone else’s life.
Her hand slipped beneath the hem of her dress, fingers finding the inside of her boot.She pulled out her phone, the screen lighting her face in the fading light.
Her thumbs moved fast.
It’s over.He’s in the ground.
Three dots blinked.Then the soft ding.
I’m here.What do you need?”
Cassie stared at the screen, thumbs hovering.What did she need?The question felt too big.
I don't know what to do now…
Jordan’s reply came almost at once.
All you need to do right now is breathe, babydoll.
Cassie’s vision went glassy, eyes filling.She wiped at her cheeks, but the tears kept coming—
What happens when breathing doesn’t help?
You keep breathing until it does.
She stared at the words until they blurred, her thumbs falling away from the keyboard as a low rumble rose from the trees.Conversation on the porch faded.Down in the drive, heads turned as the sound grew, filling the hollow until the air itself began to tremble.Headlights broke through the branches, beams cutting through the dusk.The first bike crested the hill, its matte black frame swallowing the light while the chrome caught and flared.The rider sat low in the seat, one hand on the ape-hanger, the other resting loose against his thigh.
She knew the bike before she saw it, knew that deep, uneven growl that used to rattle the windows whenever he came tearing down the ridge.
Once upon a time, The Beast had been blue.Bright as the sky and just as wild.Built from the ground up by Maverick; no one else had been allowed to touch it.
So of course, Nash had stolen it every chance he got.
The noise deepened as the rest followed, engines overlapping until, two by two, they came out of the trees—each pair slowing in sync as the riders rolled to a stop alongside Margie’s house.
Cassie's breath shallowed, that low thunder moving through her like a heartbeat.The way they’d ridden in—pairs and pauses, engines cutting one after another—told her everything.They were here for Connor’s cut.She’d known it was coming and yet…she’d still held on as long as she could.
Nash swung off the Beast and started up the walk, his movements tight and deliberate—like a man expecting pushback.
He stopped at the base of the steps and pulled off his sunglasses.For a moment he just stood there, a muscle twitching in his cheek.Then he looked up.
“The boys and me,” he said gruffly.“We’re takin’ Con on his final ride.Right now.Sunset to sunrise.”
Cassie exhaled slow, trying to steady her voice.“It’s inside,” she whispered, pushing off the steps.“Gimme a sec.”
The screen door slammed behind her, the sound cutting through the strangely hollow house that, only an hour ago, had been full of voices.Now there was nothing—just silence and stillness.
In the guest room, Connor’s cut waited on the dresser, folded neat and deliberate.She stood over it for a long time, fingertips tracing the restitched edges of his name patch until the letters swam out of focus.
A shaky breath escaped her.She gathered the leather into her arms, holding it tight against her chest, the weight of it both an anchor and a brand-new ache.
