Page 43 of Indigo Ridge (The Edens 1)

“Minute by minute. That’s what you told me, right?”

“Minute by minute.”

It was something Poppy had told me after my parents had died. I’d asked her how to deal with the sort of pain that tore through every heartbeat.

“What are you working on?” I asked, letting her go.

“Weeding. I was tempted to stay in my pajamas all day but . . .” Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I need to do something, anything, but cry.”

“I can understand that. Why don’t you put me to work?”

We spent the next thirty minutes cleaning two flower beds. The afternoon sun was hot on my black shirt, but I sat beside Melina, plucking shoots of grass and baby thistles as sweat dampened my brow.

“I need to ask you a question about Lily. Would you mind?”

“No.” She shook her head, her eyes focused on the trowel in her hand and the weeds she chopped at the root. The blade sank into the earth with a gritty slice. She’d get through this loss by keeping busy. I’d done the same. Because when you were busy, there was less time to think. Less time to hurt.

Until the night, when the memories crept into your sleep.

“You said she didn’t have a boyfriend. But could she have been seeing someone new? Maybe a

first or second date with a guy?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“I’m just trying to find out who she spent time with.” Normally I believed in full transparency, but until I had more answers about Lily and whoever she’d been with before her death, I didn’t want to leave Melina with unanswered questions.

“Lily liked to head downtown on Friday and Saturday nights with her friends. They usually met up at one of the bars. I always felt like I was walking a fine line. She lived here and I loved that she lived here. But she was an adult, so I tried to keep my mouth shut about the partying.”

If Lily was like most twenty-one-year-old women, she’d probably met a guy at the bar. Hell, I was thirty and had done the same with Griffin.

“I didn’t ask too many questions,” Melina continued. “I tried not to pester her about coming home before two. Maybe that was my mistake. But she was young and once, a long time ago, I was young too.”

The tears began to fall and Melina did her best to wipe them dry with her garden gloves, leaving streaks of dirt on her cheeks.

“I, um . . .” She pulled off her gloves. “I’d better wash up.”

“Of course.”

When she excused herself to go inside, I saw myself out of the yard. Any other questions would have to wait, but Melina had given me a place to start.

I’d spoken to many of Lily’s friends but I hadn’t asked about her at the local bars. They would be my next stop. But first, before the sun went down, I wanted to pay Indigo Ridge one more visit.

Leaving Melina’s house, I drove toward the mountains, navigating the gravel path to Indigo Ridge. My shoes weren’t the best for hiking, but I parked at the base of the trail and started my climb anyway. Step by step, I made my way up the dirt path. I was panting and sticky by the time I reached the top. The breeze that threaded around the rocks cooled the sweat between my shoulder blades.

Inching to the edge of the trail, I leaned forward to stare over the cliff. Her body wasn’t on the jagged rocks below, but I could still picture it there. Her blond hair. That blood-soaked dress.

One jump. One step. That was all it would take. One trip. One fall.

And a life shattered.

“What the fuck are you doing?” A hand clamped over my elbow and dragged me away from the edge.

I whirled around, my heart in my throat as I threw a fist toward Griffin’s nose. I managed to stop the punch before it landed, but just barely. My knuckles grazed his skin and his eyes widened that I’d moved that fast.

“Jesus, Winn.” He released my elbow. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Me? What the fuck is wrong with you? You scared the shit out of me. I could have fallen.”