Page 5 of Firefly Embers

Max and Stella had done the hard work of going to therapy, dealing with the trauma of the event, and leaning on each other.

Wade had opted to forgo therapy and to lean into a bottle of bourbon instead. I’d never seen him so emotionless as right now.

His gaze caught mine from across the room, and the hollowness in his eyes gutted me. I felt the aching chasm that was once the man I knew. I needed to figure out a way to get my best friend back before it was too late.

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” I heard Max ask hesitantly through the haze that Wade’s haunted stare had caused. I knew he was concerned; we all were, but I also knew Max had his own demons he was dealing with.

I sighed, not knowing how to answer his question. Did I think he was going to be okay? Eventually, yes. Did I think he was going to lose himself along the way? Maybe.

I went with the more diplomatic answer, not willing to bear the breaking of another Daniels boy’s heart. “I think he will be, eventually. He’s hurting, Max—badly. Right now, he can’t see the forest for the trees. He’s lost and self-medicating. Give him time.”

I patted his knee, offering comfort even if it felt somewhat hollow. I wanted to believe that Wade was going to be just fine. He just needed time to heal, but this was as reserved as I’d ever seen my best friend, and I wasn’t so sure the man I knew before was still in there.

“Thanks, Ray,” Stella chimed in, taking my hand in hers. “For everything.”

I shrugged off the compliment with a flick of my wrist and a forced smile.

There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for the Daniels family, and that extended to Stella and Charlie now.

“It was nothing,” I insisted.

“Nothing, my ass,” she added. “You planned, organized, and executed the wedding of our dreams. All while dealing with Broody McBroodface over there.”

I didn’t bother looking in Wade’s direction, but I could feel his eyes on me. I could always feel when his eyes were on me.

“Honestly, Stell. It was nothing. You’re family, and you should know by now that family sticks together, no matter what.”

I watched as her eyes caught her new husband’s gaze, and an effervescent sense of peace washed over the pair of them. What I wouldn’t give to have someone look at me the way Max Daniels looked at Stella. The unspoken love that coursed through them radiated from every look and simple touch.

I sighed wistfully and flicked my wrists in their direction, again effectively shooing them away.

“Go home. I’ve got this,” I promised, standing up to start the teardown process of the nearly empty venue.

I smoothed out the skirt of my dress and turned around, catching Wade’s heated stare. Refusing to give him any more of my time this evening, I broke our standoff and began cleaning.

RAY

Ray

It took me a couple of hours to tear down the venue and get everything ready for the rental company to pick up in the morning.

Since the wedding had been on D&D Ranch property, it wasn’t far for me to get back to my house. I walked through the door mentally and physically exhausted, the weight of the evening pressing down on me.

I still lived at home with my dad, Emmanuel. He was the current sheriff of Firefly Cove, having received his badge and title back once he’d been cleared of any wrongdoing in Wade’s attack.

Though he technically lived here, his second home was undoubtedly the police department, as he worked long hours and overnights.

With the last of us kids being old enough to fend for ourselves, Dad seemed to be at the station more and more.

It wasn’t that Firefly Cove was a bustling metropolis of police activity; I think he just needed to stay busy after spending so many years chasing toddlers and kids alone.

Our property and D&D Ranch, the Daniels’ property, backed up to each other, the middle point being the semi-hidden cove that the town had got its name from. Technically, the Daniels family owned the cove.

Penny—Max and Wade’s mother—had insisted it be open for the public to use whenever someone from the town wanted to go there.

Normally, the locals didn’t venture out that far, and the cove stayed vacant, which sure proved beneficial in our teenage years when we needed a place to go make out with our significant others behind our parents’ backs.

Thinking back on the cove always brought back a swirling torrent of memories. The Daniels boys and I had spent good times, and bad, at the edge of the small creek that flowed through its center.