Her thumb touched my ring, then she focused on the road.
We’d found this uncanny ability to know when the other person was thinking about that day. So we’d touch each other, remind each other that we were here. Together. Living.
It was a strange feeling, being grateful that a troubled kid was dead. Even stranger, I was grateful that he’d come into The Eloise. That he’d shot me instead of a school full of children in Missoula.
I still wasn’t sure how to line up those emotions. Yesterday, when Eloise had lain down for a nap, I’d started researching therapists.
We hadn’t talked much about the shooting either. Another conversation shelved for later. But when we were ready, we’d need help. I wouldn’t let this fester. I wouldn’t let this trauma come between us.
“Do you think Winn is okay?” I asked as we hit the highway, heading for the ranch.
“I think this will weigh on her.” Eloise gave me a sad smile. “But she knows she didn’t have another choice. And she has Griffin.”
She had me too. If she needed anything, I’d be there in a heartbeat.
I owed Winn my life. Eloise’s life.
They were one and the same.
While everyone had come together after the shooting, crowding around us at the A-frame, the ordeal had rattled the Edens. Tonight’s dinner was just another excuse to pull together.
It was still strange, being a part of their family.
But they were growing on me.
The drive to the ranch was quiet, but the moment we parked, her parents flew out of the house.
Harrison opened my car door before I could even touch the handle. “Hey, Jasper. Thanks for coming out.”
“Glad to be here.” It was the truth.
I looked past his shoulder to see Griffin and Winn on the porch. Winn was holding their daughter on her hip while Griff carried their son.
Closing ranks. Sticking close.
The Edens waded through thick and thin together, didn’t they?
I liked that.
Anne collected the veggie tray from the back seat, tucking it in one arm while the other tugged Eloise into a hug. As she pulled away, Anne had tears in her eyes. So did Eloise.
“Come on inside,” Anne said, leading the way to the wraparound porch.
I was about to follow when Harrison stepped in front of me.
He extended his hand, but when I shook it, he pulled me into a hug. A hug so fierce it pinched my shoulder, but I didn’t let the pain show. “Thank you. Realized today I hadn’t said that yet.”
Today. He hadn’t said that to me yet, today.
It was the hundredth time he’d thanked me in the past two weeks. I suspected it wouldn’t be the last either.
But for his daughter, for my wife, I’d take every bullet in the world.
He let me go, taking me in head to toe. His eyes were misty, much like his wife’s. He swallowed hard, then nodded for me to follow him inside, where everyone had already congregated in the kitchen and dining room.
Foster and Talia were at the island, sharing their list of baby names.
Knox was in the kitchen with Drake seated on the counter as his helper while Memphis paced the room, rocking their baby, who slept in her arms.
Griffin and Harrison launched into a discussion about the ranch—something about the corral design.
Mateo stole Emma from Winn, tossing his niece in the air. Her giggle carried above the rest of the conversation.
The house was insanity. Seven different conversations were happening at once. It had been like this the first time I’d come out here too, the noise shocking, but to everyone else, it just seemed . . . normal.
Anne and Eloise huddled around the fridge, pulling out drinks and offering beers and glasses of wine.
Lyla appeared at my side, standing with me in the periphery to take everyone in. “Think you can handle this family?”
“Honestly? No.” I chuckled. This was a far cry from the household where I’d been raised.
But as I looked to Eloise, as I saw the kids, the growing family, I wouldn’t want anything else for her.
For whatever family we might have one day.
“You’ll figure it out,” Lyla said. “You’re stuck with us now.”
“I am. You good with that?”
“Definitely. I think it was divine intervention that I never worked up the courage to ask you on a date.”
“Why do you say that?”
She smirked. “You would have always fallen in love with my sister. And I hate love triangles.”
I laughed, my own noise mixing with the rest. Oddly enough, it fit, didn’t it?
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ELOISE
A couple walked into the hotel, stealing my attention from my computer.
For the past month, every time the lobby doors opened, I held my breath. Tension crept into my shoulders, drawing them toward my ears.
Jasper, seated in the chair beside mine, reached over and covered my hand with his.
The tension ebbed. I released the air in my lungs.
The smile I gave the couple wasn’t as forced as my smiles from yesterday. Or the day before that. Or the day before that.
It had been over a month since the shooting. When I looked at the floor beneath this counter, I could still see Jasper’s blood. I could still hear the boom of guns firing. The terrified screams. The bullet holes in the wall behind me had been patched, but if I looked carefully enough, I could still find them.
But day by day, it was getting easier. Therapy had helped. That, and Jasper hadn’t left my side.
The day I’d decided it was time to come back to work, he’d come along. I’d assumed he’d leave once I was settled. Instead, he’d found his own chair, the matching partner to the one I’d sat on for years. It had been in the closet of my neglected office. He’d hauled it out and had been sitting in it ever since.
At times, he’d help with hotel work, like scheduling or payroll. Mostly, he read while I worked.
Who knew a man reading could be so sexy? Considering everything Jasper did was attractive, I shouldn’t have been surprised. This winter, if we had a string of quiet days, I hoped I could convince him to read aloud to me. But the reading would have to wait. At the moment, we were still swamped.
The shooting had rocked Quincy. It was something our small town wouldn’t soon forget.
I’d thought traffic at the hotel would slow down. That people would fear this lobby. The first week had been slower. There’d been some cancelations. But then it had ramped up like nothing had happened.
Plus we’d had an influx of local traffic, people who’d come in to gawk and see if they could spot the bullet holes. Those visits annoyed the shit out of me—and Jasper. But mostly, people would come in to give me their best and meet our local hero.
My handsome husband. The man who’d leapt in front of a bullet for his wife.