15 Summers Later

Chapter 25

The scars remain, but they are now badges of resilience, a testament to the strength we discovered within ourselves and the unbreakable bond between two sisters who defied the darkness. Our journey continues, not as survivors defined by our trauma, but as architects of our destiny, reclaiming the stolen years and building a future untethered from the shadows.

—Ghost Lake by Ava Howell Brooks

The afternoon she spent with Cullen was the best she’d known in weeks.

He suggested they grab something to eat first before heading to the grocery store, as he would have to leave directly from there to keep the perishables he purchased as cool as possible on the journey back to camp.

Though she wasn’t particularly hungry and was keeping her fingers crossed that her morning sickness didn’t make an untimely return, Ava suggested the River’s Edge, a new brew pub on the outskirts of town she had heard people raving about.

The place was crowded, but they were seated out on the wide, shady balcony overlooking Emerald Creek and the mountains beyond. As they ordered their food and waited for it to be delivered, he sampled some of the brewery’s award-winning ale while she had a fresh huckleberry lemonade that was one of the best beverages she’d ever tried.

Somehow, without really trying, they slipped back into their usual comfortable conversations about everything under the sun, from the books he read at night in his tent or under the stars to the shows Leona had persuaded Ava to watch with her.

He seemed fascinated by her volunteer work at the animal rescue and wanted to know all about it. In turn, he told her stories about the dig and what they had found so far and the strong, sometimes combative personalities working there.

He asked her about her doctor’s appointment, and while they didn’t talk directly about a future together, they seemed easier together than they had in weeks.

Throughout the meal, she noticed a guy with the tan of one of the river guides who took anglers and river rafters onto the local waters. He seemed to be staring at them, though she told herself she was mistaken.

She mostly picked at her salad, but Cullen truly enjoyed his wood-fired pizza featuring smoky red onions, pistachios and freshly made pesto. He was finishing off the last piece when the river guide stopped at their table, giving Ava a searching look.

“I’m really sorry to bother you. I hope this doesn’t seem too weird, but would you happen to be Ava Howell Brooks?”

She set down her fork, her stomach suddenly twisting more with nerves than morning sickness. Cullen, she saw, had swallowed the last bite of his pizza and was looking at the guy with wary surprise.

“Um. Yes,” she finally answered.

“I thought so. I recognized you from the picture on the book jacket. I met your sister earlier this summer at the Burning Tree tavern. Madison, right?”

“That’s right.”

“You should have heard me raving to her about Ghost Lake. It’s the best book I’ve read in a long time. I’ve read it twice already.”

She blinked. “Twice? Really?”

“Yeah. I was thinking about getting the audiobook on my library app but there’s like a forty-two-week waiting list. Did you narrate it yourself?”

Cullen, she saw, had tensed, a small muscle flexing in his jaw.

“No,” she said. “I left that to a voice actor. She’s wonderful.”

“Well, your writing really moves me.”

She never knew what to say when people praised her work. “Thank you,” she finally managed, feeling awkward and self-conscious.

“I mean, I can’t relate at all to what you went through with your sister, being held prisoner and all, and having to fight your way through the wilderness to survive.”

Not surprising. How many people could?

“But I did grow up in a house where my father drank too much and abused drugs. He didn’t always treat our mom or me and my sister the greatest. He took off when I was thirteen.”

“I’m sorry.”

“The way you’re still trying to come to peace with the choices your dad made, I could completely relate to that. Lately my dad has been trying to come back into our lives, saying how sorry he is and that he’s changed. While my sister has let him, I’ve kept that door closed and locked tight. But your raw grief about losing your dad, despite everything he had done, really hit me hard. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

She glanced at Cullen and saw he appeared struck by the man’s words.

Her husband had lost his father to cancer when he was young, she knew. One of his best childhood memories had been going with his father in the last weeks of his life to a dinosaur museum.

He had described it to her in vivid detail. The hard parts, from pushing his dad in a wheelchair after he became too tired to walk to helping him empty his Foley catheter bag in the urinal after it became too full. And the joy they experienced watching paleontologists behind glass as they cleaned off fossils with painstaking care.

He had told her everything, until she felt as if she had lived that day along with him.

And in return, she had completely glossed over all that had made her the woman she was today.

“Thank you for telling me,” she said quietly to the river guide, though her words were for the man she loved as well.

“If it isn’t too much of an imposition, would you be willing to sign my copy of Ghost Lake? I’ve got it out in my truck. I could run and get it.”

She glanced at Cullen and could tell he found the whole conversation disorienting and unexpected.

She didn’t want anything to intrude on this rare and precious time she had with her husband or to remind Cullen of the secrets she had spilled to the world and not him. Yet she couldn’t ignore the river guide’s honesty and his genuine praise.

“Of course. I would be happy to sign it.”

“Thanks. Be right back.”

After he left, she picked up her water glass and drained it. Cullen watched her, eyes filled with an emotion she couldn’t identify.

“Does that kind of thing happen to you often?”

“People around town who know me have stopped me a few times and wanted to talk about the book. I signed a few books at the farmers market today. But I haven’t had the chance to speak with many readers, especially since I postponed the book tour.”

“About that. Are you planning to reschedule?”

“Possibly. I don’t know, especially now that I’m pregnant. We’re still discussing timing.”

Before he could answer, the river guide came back carrying a copy of the book, with its distinctive cover.

“Thanks again for this,” he said, thrusting the book toward her.

“No problem.” She pushed aside her unused silverware so she had room to write, then reached into her purse and found the pen she always kept there.

“I’m sorry. I missed your name,” she said after opening the book to the front matter and finding the title page.

“I’m not sure I gave it to you. It’s Ryan. Ryan O’Connor.”

She wrote his name and a brief message with one of her favorite quotes, then signed her full name, as it was on the title. Ava Howell Brooks.

He took it back from her as if she had handed him a box full of precious jewels.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And tell your sister I would still love to go out with her, if her schedule opens up before I leave again for graduate school in late August. I had a lot of fun dancing with her the night we met.”

Ava wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Her relationship with Madi was still far too precarious for her to risk becoming entangled in her sister’s love life.

She finally nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Ryan. Good luck with your father, whatever you decide.”

He nodded soberly, gripped his book tightly and walked back the way he had come.

“I’m sorry again for the interruption.” She hated anything that intruded on this rare, lovely time with her husband.

Cullen shook his head. “You don’t have to apologize, Ava. I knew the book was a bestseller but it’s rather different to hear firsthand from a reader who actually has been impacted by it.”

To her relief, the intrusion didn’t seem to have detracted from their time together. They resumed the easy conversation as Cullen paid for their meal and drove to the larger grocery store in Sun Valley.

By the time they found all the things on his list, the long day was beginning to wear on her. She fought off the fatigue, not wanting anything to mar her time with him.

“Thank you again for your help. You saved me at least an hour of shopping,” Cullen said as they loaded the groceries into the back of his Jeep. Much of the food was dehydrated or nonperishable, as she knew they only had a couple of solar-powered coolers at the camp, but there were a few perishable things they would use up in the next few days.

“I was glad to help. It’s good to know you’ll have enough to eat this week.”

“I’ll be fine. Remember, I picked up the jumbo-sized peanut butter jar.”

She smiled as she slid into the seat of the Jeep. “You should be covered, then. If you had bought that first, you could have saved a lot of bother and expense. Really, what else do you need?”

He smiled with more genuine amusement than she had seen in weeks. “If I showed up back at camp with only a giant jar of peanut butter for us all to eat throughout the week, there would be mass protests. A few million years from now, scientists would be digging up my bones. The team would never send me to do the shopping again.”

He drove out of the parking lot and with each passing mile, Ava felt the heavy weight of their impending separation.

Too soon, he pulled into Leona’s driveway and moved around the Jeep to let her out.

“Thank you again for your help.”

“It truly was my pleasure, Cullen. I’m so glad I was able to spend some time with you. I’ve...I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said, his voice gruff.

Desperate to bridge the gap between them, she took a huge gamble, moving forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace, his arms around her waist and his chin resting on her head.

She closed her eyes, cheek pressed against his heartbeat, searing the moment into her memory to help her through the long days without him.

With a soft sigh, he kissed her. The taste of him, the shape of his lips, was wonderfully familiar, like a favorite book she had read hundreds of times. She wanted to sink into his kiss and disappear.

Too soon, he finally eased away from her. “I’m sorry, Ava, but I have to go. I’ve still got a long drive back up the mountain and I don’t want everything we just bought to go bad.”

She sighed and nodded, stepping away. She felt the absence of him with a physical ache.

“I understand.”

“Be safe this week. Don’t overdo things.”

She gave a half laugh. “I’m staying with my grandmother, splitting my days between working in her garden and volunteering at an animal shelter. It’s not exactly high stress. You’re the one who needs to be careful. I wouldn’t want any mountain lions to eat you up there.”

He seemed reluctant to release her hand. That had to be a good sign, wasn’t it?

“Maybe I can slip away one night this week and come down from the mountains so we could go to dinner or something.”

“I would like that,” she said softly, still afraid to hope.

He kissed her forehead one last time, then slid into the Jeep. He didn’t move, though, and she realized he wouldn’t drive away until he knew she was safely inside, so she stepped up to the porch and unlocked her grandmother’s front door.

As he finally backed out of the driveway, she returned to the porch to watch him drive away through the warm June sunshine.