Starcrossed Colorado (Hart County #1)

35. Emma

THIRTY-FIVE

Emma

Ashford went outside to “supervise” the feeding of the carrots to the horses, while Piper went to take a shower. She, Grace, and I had spent all morning outside with the kids and Stella.

The exercise had been great to clear my head. Every minute that I got to spend with Maisie and my friends helped put what had happened with Elias behind me.

But having Ashford nearby was the best of all. Just knowing that he wasn’t far.

He had been incredible. My personal superhero. He had saved my life. And whenever my mind dipped back into those terrifying moments, when I had thought I wouldn’t survive, my love for Ashford brought me back out of it.

I finally understood exactly how my dad and Madison felt about each other. They’d been through life-threatening situations too. The kind of bond Ashford and I had now went soul-deep.

I wandered into Judson’s kitchen and found Grace there already, staring into a glass of water. She startled and looked up.

“Don’t mind me,” I said. “I’m on a quest for sugar. I heard a rumor about chocolate in the pantry, and I figured I’d better get to the bottom of that before the kids beat me to it.”

Grace smiled, setting aside her glass. “I’ll be your wingwoman. Chocolate is exactly what I need. Or a can of whipped cream. But if I find one of those in the fridge, it’s every woman for herself.”

I barked a laugh. “Duly noted.” Then I winced, because my throat was still a bit sore.

From the empathetic look on Grace’s pretty face, she could tell. “How are you doing?”

“Getting better every day.”

We went into the pantry to search the shelves. “Are your parents still threatening to come out to Silver Ridge?” Grace asked.

“After he heard, my dad got halfway to the airport before I talked him out of it. The media has already tracked Dad and Madison down in West Oaks, which did not go well for the reporters.”

“Yikes. I bet not.”

“How are you doing, Grace? I don’t think I’ve asked you that yet. I should have.”

The truth about Elias had clearly affected her. Like Ashford and Piper and the others, she’d known him since her childhood. But she’d been especially close to him.

“Me? I’m fine. I have nothing to complain about. I was incredibly lucky.”

I turned to face her. We were standing a foot away from each other in the narrow pantry. “But Elias still hurt you.”

Her eyes shone.

I touched her shoulder, and Grace closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek. I grabbed a napkin and used it to dab her face.

“I cared about him. Trusted him. I feel so guilty about that. There was one night that I was doing the books at Flamethrower, and we almost kissed. It disgusts me.”

“But you didn’t . You kept saying no. Maybe, down deep, you felt that something was off about him.”

“Maybe. If that was my inner voice talking, I wish it had spoken louder.”

“Stella didn’t like him either. She kept barking at him. But I didn’t put it together. You know what I realized? The first time Elias was around Stella at Ashford’s apartment, she was barking and growling. I just didn’t get it. But if it wasn’t for her, I never would’ve found that photo.”

“There’s one thing I do know for sure. Piper is right. Falling for someone is a huge risk. Even if it’s someone you’ve known most of your life, they might turn around and betray you. Or you might lose them and end up alone.” She blew her nose in the napkin.

It twisted me up inside to hear Ashford’s sister say that. I wanted Grace to find happiness. But was she wrong?

Love was a risk. It could slip away so easily.

Unless you fought for it.

We hugged, not letting go for a long while. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Emma.”

“Thanks. You’ll be all right too.”

She sighed and nodded.

That evening, Maisie, Ashford, and I camped out on a huge air mattress, like we had been doing the past couple of nights. We were downstairs in Judson’s basement game room. Pool table on one side, a huge entertainment center on the other. I was just relieved Stella hadn’t chewed up any wires.

Of course, since arriving at Judson’s, she’d been an angel. She’d reserved her aggressive behavior for Elias. Next time, I was going to pay closer attention to her. Like the way she’d barked at Dr. Carmichael. He hadn’t killed Lori, but he was definitely still a sleaze ball.

What a good girl Stella was. Treats for life.

And everyone else seemed to feel the same way. She’d been getting more adoration and attention the last couple days than I could usually provide in two weeks. Ashford especially had been generous with belly scratches and fetch sessions. Stella seemed to love being near the other animals, too. Though some of them, especially the chickens and Judson’s old farm dog, were not so sure about her.

“I don’t want to get ready for bed,” Maisie said. “Ollie doesn’t have to go to bed yet.”

“I’m sick of hearing about what Ollie does,” Ashford grumbled.

“Get used to it, Dad,” I muttered.

Ashford ran Maisie a bath, while I took a few minutes to myself and pulled out my journal.

I bit on my pen cap, words evading me.

I hadn’t written anything since Elias had attacked me. I’d retold what happened to a bunch of police, to Ashford, and to my parents. But I hadn’t written it down.

I wasn’t sure yet that I would. It probably would help. I knew it would help. Then again, when I wrote down exactly what I’d gone through that night, I didn’t want to put it in the journal Ashford had bought me. I wanted to write that somewhere else. And then be able to set it aside, or even burn it if I wanted.

The rest of my entries in this journal, detailing my time with Ashford and Maisie, were too precious.

Maisie wandered out in her jammies with Stella on her heels. Ashford was still in the bathroom draining the tub.

“Emma, you and Daddy are sleeping on the mattress with me again, right?”

“Yep. We sure are.”

I’d been worried that I might wake Maisie if I had a nightmare. And I had woken each night so far, sweating and breathing hard. But having Maisie and Ashford there had soothed me. Each time, Ashford woke with me and put his hand over my racing heart. Breathed with me until the panic had passed.

She crawled into the middle, the air mattress bouncing beneath her. “I like having sleepovers. Can we do this always?”

“Nope, eventually you’ll have to go back to your own room at your apartment. The reporters will all be gone, and everything will go back to normal.”

Her face scrunched up. “But will you still be there? Or will you have to go back to California and the beach, like you said before?”

I was pretty sure I knew the answer. Though I couldn’t tell her yet. Ashford and I hadn’t had the chance to discuss it.

But I did know what I wanted. And I took it on faith that he wanted the same. After what we’d been through, we both knew we couldn’t stand to be apart. Right?

“I’m still figuring that out,” I said. “But no matter where I am, I’ll be thinking of you. Because you’re one of my favorite people.”

“You’re one of my favoritest people.”

I laughed and kissed Maisie on the forehead.