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“Good to know,” I say, my mind a fog. “Does it look like Josie’s mom was involved at all? Was she an accomplice, too?”
“We’re looking into it,” he says. “So far, we haven’t found anything.”
I hope they don’t. I’d like to see Leo and Etta live with family rather than go into foster care. That’s what Parker and Josie would have wanted, surely.
“How much time you need off?” he asks sympathetically. “A week? Two?”
“I’ll let you know,” I say, staggering to my front door and fumbling for my keys.
“Take all the time you want,” he says. “But then I need you back. We’ve got a Cereal Killer to catch.”
This seems to be his way of saying that I’m forgiven for lying to him. He might be willing to overlook how I went behind his back this time, but it’s clear he expects a team approach on the next case. And after what I’ve been through, I couldn’t agree more. Parker went rogue because he lost faith in the Ranger organization. I might not always agree with my colleagues, but I recognize the value of the Ranger family.
Parker went wrong when he turned his back on the Rangers.
I’ll never follow in those footsteps.
I tell Ty I’ll be back as soon as I can, and it’s true—I just need some time to rest and recover. Right now, I can’t imagine strapping on a gun and being any good to any investigation.
Inside my house, I strip out of my clothes, put on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, and crawl into bed. It’s still afternoon, with warm sunlight shining in through the windows, but I’m so fatigued I have to lie down.
It turns out I’m too exhausted to sleep.
Too exhausted to cry.
I just stare at the ceiling, listening to the cows and horses in the pasture, and thinking about Parker and Josie. They’d seemed to me to be the model of what two people in love should look like. Somehow their relationship had taken a wrong turn, but they’d never stopped loving each other. That was clear.
I hear a soft knock on my door. I want to ignore it, but whoever it is—my parents, probably—I know they mean well by checking on me. I hobble to the door and open it to find Megan smiling brightly.
“I was in the neighborhood visiting my folks,” she says. “I saw your truck.”
She’s as beautiful as ever, with her dark hair pulled back in a braid and her electric eyes catching the sunlight just right. But as I look at her, I realize I’m disappointed it’s her.
She’s not the girl I wish was showing up at my door.
I know what I have to do.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I say. “We need to talk.”
TWO
FROM THE AIRPLANE window, I can see the Cumberland River wending its way through Nashville. The landscape is green and lush and beautiful, and I can see why Willow has fallen in love with living here.
After the plane touches down, I buy a bouquet of lilies—Willow’s favorite—from an airport gift shop and head outside to order an Uber. I’m wearing jeans with a nice button-down shirt. And my boots and hat, of course. I fit right in here in Music City.
Underneath my clothes, my body is covered in scabs and bruises. And I’ve never been so sore in my life. But I couldn’t wait. I booked the flight as soon as I broke up with Megan.
Willow doesn’t know I’m coming.
I don’t have much of a plan other than to show up at her door and say, “I’m ready to have that conversation.” Then tell her I love her and I want to make things work with her, no matter what.
I wait a few minutes for the Uber, a compact little Hyundai driven by a cheery twenty-something girl with a thick Tennessee drawl. I sit in the back seat and try to calm my nerves as the girl navigates the car to Highway 65 and heads south. Willow used to live in the trendy Five Points area of Nashville back when we were doing long distance, but she’s since moved south of the city to Franklin, where I understand lots of country stars have property. I got her address from Mom, who still sends her a Christmas card every year.
The radio DJ says we’re listening to the Big 98, a station I can remember Willow talking about. A song starts up about a girl knowing she’s going to get her heart broken, and I think of Megan. She was hurt, of course, but not surprised.
She said deep down she knew it was coming.
I felt bad, but I would have felt worse stringing her along when my heart wasn’t in it.
