Sometimes I wondered if Rafael followed me here just out of loyalty. If he missed our old clan. I hesitated, then asked the question that had been gnawing at me since the day we arrived.
“You miss it back... there?” I asked.
I didn’t say home. Ironwood Falls was never that. It was a cage with cold walls and colder traditions.
“Not one bit,” Rafael said, like it was the easiest thing in the world. He gave my shoulder a pat. “I want to be here, Beau. And ignoring the townsfolk acting like we’re gonna sprout claws and tear their picnic blankets apart... I kind of like it here.”
I didn’t say anything. Part of me wanted to believe him. The other part wondered if he was just saying what he thought I needed to hear.
Rafael leaned back on the bench, peeling the wrapper off a cupcake. I noted it was the same one James offered him earlier. I didn’t even realize he’d gone back to Wolf & Whisk.
Maybe it was for “research.” I didn’t ask. I stared at the frosting, pink and perfect, and thought of Levi. Of the last time I saw him.
I’d been bleeding, broken, barely breathing. He’d looked down at me through the haze of pain, eyes steady even after everything. He’d made sure everyone thought I was dead. That was the plan.
“Live and love for both of us,” he whispered that day, voice barely audible over the sound of my heartbeat slowing down.
He didn’t just expect me to make good on opening the bakery. He expected me to find someone to share it with. To have a life worth something. One thing at a time, I thought.
The sky burst above us in a shower of light, gold and green and bright blue.
The fireworks had started. I leaned back, warm food on my lap, Rafael beside me, and the hollow echo of Levi’s voice still lingering in my ears.
Live and love.
Chapter 2
Sean
A Few Months Later
The bus hissedand pulled away, leaving me on the cracked sidewalk of Sugarpaw Springs with nothing but a heavy backpack and a heavier secret.
The sky was that gray-blue that always comes before rain, and the air smelled like pine, earth, and something sweeter I couldn’t name.
For a second, I just stood there, breathing in the quiet. No traffic. No yelling. No sirens. Just birdsong and the creak of a sign swinging gently in the breeze.
It was exactly what I wanted. What I needed. No one would find me here.
I didn’t plan on staying long, just long enough to get some cash in my pocket, catch my breath, and figure out the next step.
I wasn’t stupid. Secrets like mine didn’t stay buried forever. And the longer I stayed still, the easier it’d be for them to catch up to me.
Still, I hesitated. How had it come to this?
Six months ago, I had plans. Dreams. A culinary school scholarship. A future. And then that happened.
That one terrible moment that tore it all down and left me running with shaking hands and a gut full of guilt. I should’ve done something. Said something. Instead, I froze.
Now I was here. A ghost in my own life.
I shifted my backpack higher on my shoulders, knees buckling slightly under the weight, and took a deep breath.
Enough wallowing. I needed a job, and maybe, if I was lucky, something hot and freshly baked to make me feel human again.
I started walking, my boots crunching against the gravel that passed for a sidewalk in some places. Sugarpaw Springs. Population 3,204, according to the sign I passed on the way in. It wasn’t much.
Just a smattering of old buildings nestled in the valley, with faded paint and crooked shutters, surrounded by thick woods and winding roads.
