Page 90 of Kylie

My gaze snapped to Gage. I didn’t realize he knew I was the one who’d been doing that. It was true. I had placed a new bouquet every week, much of the time with Kate’s input. She would tell me what her mother liked, or what she thought was appropriate for the time of year, and I would get it. I would swing through at some point during the day, remove the old flowers, and arrange the new ones in the vase. Then I would spend a few minutes talking to my wife.

Who hadn’t been in the ground.

“Since you buried me,” Kylie whispered.

I stepped behind her and put my arms around her, unable to look at her name etched into that stone and not remind myself that she was alive. I couldn’t count how many times I’d come out here so I could talk to her. I’d felt closer to her for some reason, though looking back, I wasn’t sure why that was. She’d never been there.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking over at Gage, then back at me.

“For what?”

“That y’all had to go through that.”

I could’ve told her that a part of me had died that day, but I kept that to myself. I did not want to relive any of it, and I didn’t think it would benefit her to know how much pain we’d all endured.

“We had no idea you were alive,” Gage said as the three of us stood there.

“When did you realize?” Kylie asked.

Because I knew we would get to this eventually, I was grateful the kids weren’t around because she deserved to know, and I intended to tell her.

“Brantley called me up and asked me to meet him at the diner,” I explained. “Last Saturday.”

Kylie stepped forward, forcing me to release her. I dropped my arms to my side, watching her as she processed the words.

She turned to face me, her eyebrows lowered. “He just told you?”

Instantly, I thought back to my conversation with Brantley at the diner, not even a week ago.

“What did you need to tell me? I’ve got things to do today.”

“As you know, we’re lookin’ into the circumstances of Meredith’s disappearance. I’ve assigned Archer and Atticus to lead the investigation.”

When Brantley paused, I fought the urge to get up and walk out the door. I didn’t give a shit about any of this.

“They worked all night to put together a timeline that will allow us to start pursuing leads.”

Again, I waited, my patience quickly dwindling.

“When they were going through Holt’s notes, they found something. Something that … well, it sounds insane. So insane that I confronted Holt and Simon about it this morning. They assure me it’s real.”

Frowning, I leaned in. “What the hell are you tellin’ me this for?”

Brantley took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “I know you’re not gonna believe this any more than I do, but…”

“Goddammit, Brant⁠—”

“They’ve uncovered evidence—” Brantley shook his head, still holding my stare. “I honestly don’t know how to say it.”

“Just spit it out so we can move on with our lives.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t think we can.”

Confused, I pinned Brantley with a hard look. “Tell. Me.”

The pause that ensued felt like it went on for years, but then Brantley opened his mouth and words began spilling out.

“They’ve uncovered evidence that leads them to believe Kylie’s alive.”