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“Do you think he actually is?” I ask.
She looks over her shoulder at me. “Is what?”
“Resting in peace? Gone from this world and on to a better place?”
The breeze gusts for a second, shoving her hair into her face. She pushes it back while she answers through a smile, “Yes.” She says it in a way that she knows for certain, and who am I to disagree with her? It wasn’t me who he washaunting. It was her. They shared some kind of bond from the afterlife, so if she thinks he’s gone, I’m going to believe her.
I stuff my hands into my pockets and nod. She turns back to look at the stone for a long while, and when she’s done, she heads back to me, grabs my hand, and we stroll back to my truck.
“Where now?” she asks as I help her into the cab.
“I thought we’d get some donuts.”
A slow smile spreads across her lips. “You know me too well.”
I grunt, but I can’t help the smirk. The door hinges creak as I slam it shut, and the breeze pushes at my back until I’m hopping inside and sliding behind the wheel. I start the truck, and we head back into town.
“Tori said something to me while you were getting my going-home clothes this morning,” she begins tentatively.
I glance at her. “Yeah?”
She nods, and I look back at the road. “The sheriff’s story was in the paper. All of it. All of his crimes. Have you read it?” I shake my head. “The town knows about it now. They know why you did what you did to Sheriff Smith’s cousin.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightens at the same time my jaw flexes. A part of me is protective of that story. A part of me doesn’t want them to know that part of the truth because that means I have to share a piece of my sister’s horrible fate. And then the other part of me is grateful because they know what kind of assholes I was faced against.
“They understand, you know,” she says softly when I say nothing. “Why you killed the sheriff’s cousin. Tori said the whole town is talking about you, and it’s all good things. They’re angry that they weren’t given the truth,that they couldn’t defend their youth when you needed it most.”
I flex my fingers that were gripping the steering wheel. “It doesn’t change the past, Tegan.”
“No,” she whispers. “But it does change the future.”
Knowing she isn’t wrong, I give a nod. She’s asking me to step into the future with her, to let go of my painful past and walk a new path beside her. She’s asked something similar of me before, but I wasn’t ready to let it go. That was before I knew I loved her. That was before I envisioned what comes next between her and me. And that was before she died in my arms and my world stopped for a day. It’s a lesson. A lesson that life is too short and I should embrace the blessings I have now and not the curses I was once plagued with.
When we get to the shop, I help her out of the truck again. “Wow,” she says as soon as I set her on her own two feet. “There are a ton of people here for the middle of the day.”
I hide my grin behind her back as I lead her into the shop. Cheers erupt right when we open the door, startling Tegan and causing her to bump slightly into my chest.
Thanks to Tori, everyone showed up: the police force, Derek Wordon, the cashier from the hardware store, anyone whose life Tegan has touched. Tori organized the whole thing yesterday, a welcome-home party. A celebration of catching Neil’s killer.
She looks back at me with wide eyes and asks, “What is this?”
“It’s for you!” Tori exclaims. She comes forward, snatches Tegan’s hand, and pulls her deeper inside.
“A party?” I hear Tegan hiss as I follow behind them.
“Exactly,” Tori answers, guiding her to the police force where each of them shakes her hand. They pepper herwith questions about her medical condition, all of which she dutifully answers. A few times, one by one, they make eye contact with me and give me a curt nod. An acceptance, I realize after a while. A mutual respect. An understanding.
Maybe Tegan wasn’t wrong. Maybe the people are on my side and I’m no longer that murderer, the black stain on this sleepy little town. I don’t know what to make of it, so I just nod back.
After Tori has shown her to everyone, she takes us to the booth where Derek sits. He was released from the hospital yesterday, and already, the color is returning to his skin, and the dark circles under his eyes are less prominent.
We take a seat beside him, and he smiles at us while toying with the rim of his coffee cup. “Life looks good on you, Tegan,” he says.
“Thanks,” she responds, wincing a little as she adjusts her posture.
“Still in pain?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
I answer, “Yes,” at the same time she lies and says, “No.”
