She pressed her face into Atlas’s neck. Her chest hurt in a new place now, a smaller, sharper place than the Alice place, and she didn’t know how to feel both kinds of pain at once. She’d just lost two people in one night. One forever, and one for a long, long time.
The door was still open and Bear filled the frame. “What did he say to you?”
“Nothing.” She shifted Atlas’s weight in her lap. “He’s fine. I’m fine.”
“Greta—”
“It wasn’t him, Bear. It was me. I pushed him. He’s a friend,” she said and her voice came out small. “He’s my friend. And I hurt him.”
Bear was quiet a moment. “You want me to go after him?”
She shook her head. “He wouldn’t talk to you. He won’t talk to anybody for a while now. That’s how he is.”
Bear worked his jaw. He looked past her, out the window, to the place where Cole’s truck had disappeared, and his expression did something complicated. Not jealousy—she’d been watching for that, half-expecting it, and it wasn’t there.
After a beat, he nodded. “Okay.”
But he didn’t move from the doorway. He hovered there like he wanted to say or do something more.
Greta let her head fall back against the couch with a groan. “I should have just thanked him and let him go.”
“Cole will come back around,” Naomi said quietly. “He just needs time.”
Time. Yeah, maybe. But she wasn’t sure she believed it. She knew Evander Cole. She knew how longtimecould mean with him.
“You’re allowed to be a mess tonight, Greta,” Johanna said. “He’s not going to hold this against you.”
“And if he does, sugar,” Mariah added, “then he’s got the emotional range of a screen door, and that’s not your problem to fix.”
“But he came all the way into town.”
“I know,” Johanna said.
“He never comes into town.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
Greta closed her eyes again. Johanna was right. So was Mariah. But she couldn’t help but worry she’d cost herself a friend tonight. And God knew that man didn’t have very many friends to lose.
She’d say sorry tomorrow.
She’d say sorry next week.
She’d say sorry for a year if it took a year. Cole was worth a year of apologies, and she’d send every one.
But tonight, she didn’t have anything left.
“She’s had enough company for tonight,” Bear said and finally stepped into the room.
Greta heard them moving after that, but only in pieces. Coats off hooks. Maggie’s voice was low at the door. Lila sayingcall me if you need anything, I mean it.Mariah’s hand on the top of her head in passing. Johanna’s lips against her temple, the wordsget some sleep, sweetheart,somewhere near her ear. The sound of plates being covered in foil. The kitchen light snapped off.
She didn’t track any of it.
Naomi crouched in front of her. “I’m glad you finally have answers. And I know it feels awful now, but tomorrow you can start healing.”
Naomi did know. She was speaking from experience.
She leaned in and kissed Greta’s forehead. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help with everything.”
