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All I wanted to do was help her.
We walked south along the main road toward Mission Park. It was probably the prettiest spot in town, with gorgeous flowers and landscaping. One of the few public spaces in Garnet Bend that the town actually spent time and money maintaining. The view wasn’t half bad either.
This part of Montana, which butted up against the Mission Mountains, was relatively flat with isolated hills and mountains. But as Garnet Bend was in the foothills of the towering range behind us, we could see for miles over all that flatness. And now in the height of summer it was all a beautiful green. The sky was clear today, dotted with white clouds that seemed too perfect to be real.
“This is beautiful,” Evelyn whispered.
“It is,” I agreed. “I thought you might like it.”
She whipped her head around at me. “Why?”
“Because you seem like a person who loves beautiful things.” I wasn’t sure where the words had come from, but as I said them I knew they were true. Or maybe it was because she was beautiful and deserved to be surrounded by the same.
“Everybody loves beautiful things,” she whispered. The way she said it made me think there was more to it than she would admit, but her body was more relaxed since we’d walked into the park, and her color was coming back a little.
We walked all the way to the edge, where the land dropped off in a gentle slope that rolled out into the distance. Beside me, Evelyn inhaled. “You smell it?”
“What?”
“It’s that thing I told you about,” she said with a smile—a real one. “That weird sweetness in the air I can’t figure out. Maybe it’s the flowers here, but I feel like it’s everywhere.”
I focused on the air around us. Evelyn was right. There was a sweetness to it, nearly sharp. Now that I’d been here a few years I didn’t notice it as much, but when I’d arrived, it had struck me the way it did her. This place seemed different from the rest of the world.
But what struck me now was her. Evelyn’s eyes were closed, head tilted back, enjoying the breeze that swept up to us. This was the freest I’d ever seen her. The smile on her face was pure and open, and in this moment... I could see who she was. The real Evelyn without the things that she was running from and that were weighing her down.
She turned and looked at me, that smile still on her face. The smile landed in my gut. I wanted to see it on her face all the time, and I knew without forming the thought that I would do whatever it took to keep it there.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. “And I’ve lived in a lot of places.”
“A lot of people say that Montana is the last best place.”
“With this view, I can’t disagree.” She walked to a nearby bench and sat.
Her posture was the opposite of what it had been coming out of the library. And damn if that didn’t make me desperate to know what was going on with her. I sat next to her, keeping a careful distance, but closer than I would have yesterday.
For a while we sat and watched, enjoying the sunshine and wind. She had her eyes closed again, a faint smile on her face.
“Evelyn?” When she returned my gaze, her eyes were soft. “I hope you know that you can trust me.”
Her face shuttered, and I hated myself for taking away the little peace that she’d found in this place. She took a long, slow breath before she met my eyes again. “I know. I do. But that... doesn’t come easily for me.”
“I know.” I angled my body toward hers. “And I would never push for anything you’re not comfortable with. I’m here to help.”
Her voice was quiet. “You have helped. Really.”
I held myself still as she looked back at the view. This felt fragile, and I wouldn’t do anything to break it.
“I’ve been—” She stopped. “I’m sorry that I lied.”
A blush turned her cheeks pink, and I forced myself not to focus on the color and how it might look elsewhere on her or how I could make her turn that color again. Because fuck, that blush was everything. But the reason why she was blushing was not. “Never apologize for something that’s keeping you safe.”
Evelyn nodded. “Still. It’s not like you couldn’t tell that I was lying.”
I couldn’t stop my smile. “I have a lot of practice with that.”
“I swear I’m actually a better liar than that. She turned on the bench and sat cross-legged in front of me. The breeze caught her hair; she caught it and tied it back before it went wild. I’d felt that hair yesterday, and I wanted to again. “It’s just with you.”
“What’s with me?”
