“No hospitals. I just want to go home. With you.” It was all I needed.
I got what I wanted. Mostly. After a slow ride back to the truck and trailer, a Forest Service team escorting us halfway, Hayes took me to his house since mine was a crime scene. He hadn’t forced me to a hospital, but he’d had the town doctor check me out with Hadley serving as his assistant. I hadn’t needed stitches, but I did have another mild concussion.
Now, after a shower that Hayes had demanded he take with me, I was clean and propped up on his couch with a world of people swarming about. Julia and Gabe. Shiloh and Hadley. And my Addie.
Hayes brushed the hair away from my face. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to sleep?”
“No. I want to be right here.” I wanted to bask in the light of the family I was making for myself.
“Stop trying to mother her, Bubby,” Hadley said as she bustled in from the kitchen and handed me a ginger ale.
I took a long sip of the bubbly sweetness. “Thanks, Hads.”
She gave me a wink. “Anytime.”
“Chicken and dumplings are almost done,” Julia called from the kitchen where she’d been cooking up a storm with Addie’s assistance and Gabe hovering.
Hadley plopped down on the opposite side of the couch. “It’s my favorite meal when I’m not feeling great. I’m pretty sure it cures all.”
“She’s not wrong there,” Hayes said, lacing his fingers through mine.
I caught sight of Shiloh through the windows. She’d needed space since returning from searching for me. When she’d walked into the house, she’d made a beeline for me, hugging me tightly and whispering, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Then she’d simply left.
“She needs to walk it off,” Gabe had told me.
She was back, but she’d made her home on the front porch swing. I knew this had brought up hard things for her—ghosts and demons rearing their ugly heads. But Shiloh was one of the strongest people I knew. She would make it through this, too. We all would.
I pressed into Hayes’ side. “I love you.”
“I know,” he whispered. “I knew before you could say the words.”
I tipped my head back to take in his face. “Cocky.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “No. You showed me without ever saying the words.”
Everything in me warmed, and I burrowed into his chest, feeling only more of that peace. “I like giving you the words, too.”
“I like hearing them. And, Ev?”
“Hmm?”
“I love you, too.”
His words wrapped around me, only burying that peace into me. It was so deep now, I knew it would never leave.
47
Hayes
“That face looks serious. Bad news?” Everly asked from her spot in my bed.
I made my way towards her. I didn’t want to tell her. I wanted to lie to keep the relief that had lived on her face for the past few hours in place, but I’d never lie to Ev. “They found him.”
She visibly swallowed. “That’s good. I mean, his family deserves closure—”
“He’s alive.”
“What?” She straightened against the pillows. “How is that even possible?”