Everly’s mouth curved the barest amount. “It wasn’t pleasant.”
I’d pulled more than one boneheaded move in my childhood. I’d broken a collarbone, my wrist, and sprained my ankle at least three times. I’d lost track of the number of stitches I’d received over the years. “Did you break anything?”
She held out her arm and traced an invisible line along her forearm. “Right here.”
“How long were you in a cast?”
Her jaw worked back and forth as she searched for the words. “I wasn’t.”
“You didn’t have to get a cast?” I was pretty sure every broken bone required one.
“My father wouldn’t let me go to the hospital.”
Everything in me stilled. It was the first time she’d brought him up in front of me. She hadn’t even said his name, and my blood still went cold. “Why not?” I could barely get the words out.
She stared down at her arm as if she could see where the bone had been torn apart. “He didn’t trust doctors. Thought conventional medicine was poison. That they gave you things you didn’t need. Sometimes, he thought it was one of the ways the government tracked people.”
“Did your mom take you?”
Everly’s chin lifted, her eyes so bleak. “No. She couldn’t go against him. Not like that.”
“Fuck that.” I started pacing back and forth across the kitchen, needing to move or I’d explode. “She should’ve left and taken you and your brother with her. What kind of messed-up person stays and puts her children through that?”
“A weak one.”
I stopped and turned slowly back to Everly.
“She was weak. Fallible. Human. She’d used all of her courage to go against her parents’ wishes and marry my father. When it wasn’t what she thought it would be, she had nowhere to go. No one to turn to. She met him when she was nineteen. Barely had a high school diploma. She had Ian when she was only twenty-one—still a baby herself.”
“Calder was only a little older when his twins were born, and he’d do anything for them. How can you just excuse her like that?”
Everly released her hold on the sink. “I’m not excusing it. I’m still furious with her. You don’t think I am? I live with hundreds of memories just like that one. But I choose to try and understand her. Otherwise, all of that anger will eat me alive.”
“That’s why you’re here.” It suddenly made all the sense in the world.
“I have to find a way to make peace with it. With her. With the rest of my family. With this place. This land was in her family for generations. Her grandmother left it to my mom in her will. There was so much good in this place for so long. And I have a chance to make it that again.”
I could practically feel the need clawing at her. “That’s a heavy weight to put on your shoulders.”
Everly looked up, meeting my stare dead-on. “I’ve never fit anywhere. But these mountains? They always accepted me, grounded me. They were my touchstone when I didn’t have anything else.”
Her gaze drifted away from me, moving toward the window and the sprawling landscape outside. “I thought maybe I could find my place in them. Heal some of those hurts—for others and myself. All I know is, I have to try.”
19
Everly
I took a deep breath of the pine-scented air as I stepped out into the sunshine, the door to the vet’s office closing with a snick behind me. I closed my eyes and tipped my face up to the light. Maybe the rays would infuse some energy into my body.
I was wrung out. Physically. Emotionally. Yesterday had drained every drop. Because after my emotional unburdening with Hayes, we’d had to go back to work. He’d offered to make up an excuse for me, say that I wasn’t feeling well, and it would’ve been true enough. But I wasn’t going to let his family clean up my mess alone.
So, back out I’d gone. I’d received some concerned looks, and Hayes some stern ones, but I’d simply ducked my head and started hauling debris. The physical labor had helped, but my body was paying for it today. I would try to cram myself into the minuscule bathtub the cabin had. Or maybe I’d drive out to the hot springs. Either way, I needed a soak.
I started down the path towards the sidewalk and came up short. Addie was walking next to Ben. My heart clenched. Something about seeing the two of them together got to me—the friends I’d spent so much of my childhood with. And their lives had simply gone on. They’d stayed friends, and had left me behind. Or had I gone on ahead? I wasn’t sure anymore.
Ben smiled. “Hey, Evie.”
“Hi.” My voice came out on a croak. “How are you guys?”