Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tessa was pacing Bree's living room when Brian walked through the door.
She'd heard the sirens twenty minutes ago, had called him immediately, and spent every moment since trying not to imagine the worst. The rational part of her brain, the part that had spent seven years in trauma surgery, knew that sirens in a small town didn't automatically mean disaster.
The irrational part, the part that had been stalked and threatened and violated, couldn't stop spinning scenarios.
But then the door opened, and there he was. Alive. Whole. Blood on his shirt and his hands, but standing on his own two feet with something in his eyes she hadn't seen before.
"Brian." She crossed the room in three steps and threw her arms around him, not caring about the blood, not caring about anything except the solid warmth of him against her. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry." His arms came around her, holding tight. "I didn't mean to. It just happened so fast."
She pulled back enough to look at him, her hands moving automatically to check for injuries. Some of the blood was his, some wasn't, she realized. She looked at the cuts from the glass; they’d mostly dried at this point, and they weren’t deep enough to have made this much of a mess. "Tell me."
He told her. The crash. The woman trapped in the car.
The fuel leak. The extraction. Colby beside him the whole time, the two of them working together like they'd done it a hundred times before.
Because Colby had, Tessa realized. As a firefighter, he'd responded to accidents like that more times than he could probably count.
"She's going to be okay," Brian said. "Eleanor. That's her name. The paramedics said I probably saved her life, getting her out before the fuel could ignite."
Tessa's throat tightened. "You did that. You saved her."
"We did. Colby and I. And some delivery guy who held her head stable while we moved her." Brian's voice was strange, rough with something she couldn't quite identify. "I didn't think. I just... moved. The training took over, and I did what I was supposed to do."
"That's who you are." She reached up and touched his face, feeling the stubble rough against her palm. "That's always been who you are."
"I called Dawson." He said it quietly, like he was still processing it himself. "The EMS chief. I told him I want to volunteer."
The words hit her like a wave. She'd been hoping for this, gently pushing him toward it without pushing too hard, but hearing him say it out loud was different. It made it real.
"Brian." Her voice cracked. "That's... I'm so proud of you."
"You said that on the phone."
"I'll say it again. As many times as you need to hear it." She pulled him close, pressing her face against his chest, not caring that it smelled like smoke and copper and sweat. "I'm so proud of you."
His arms tightened around her. "I couldn't have done it without you."
"You absolutely could have. You just needed someone to remind you that you're allowed to."
They stood there for a long moment, holding each other in Bree's living room with afternoon light streaming through the windows. Tessa could hear Bree moving around in the kitchen, giving them space, and she felt a surge of gratitude for these people who had opened their home without hesitation.
"You need a shower," she said finally. "And a clean shirt. You look like you've been in a war zone."
"Feel like it too." But he was smiling, a real smile that reached his eyes. "Join me?"
"In Hank and Bree's bathroom?"
"They're not using it."
She laughed, surprising herself. After everything, after Carla's phone call and the threat hanging over them and the constant low hum of fear, she could still laugh. Brian did that to her. Made everything feel manageable, even when it wasn't.
"Later," she said. "When we're back in our own space."
"Is that a promise?"
"It's an incentive. For both of us to survive whatever comes next."
His expression sobered. "Speaking of which. Any word from Diaz?"
"Not since this morning." Tessa stepped back, crossing her arms. The brief lightness faded, reality settling back over her like a weight. "She's got people watching the cottage, the shop, this house. But Carla's still in the wind."
"She'll make a mistake. People like her always do."
"And until then?"
"Until then, we don't give her what she wants." Brian's jaw tightened. "She wants you scared. She wants you isolated. She wants you to run. So we do the opposite. We stay. We live our lives. We don't let her win."
Tessa nodded slowly. It was easy to say, harder to do. Every time she looked out a window, she found herself scanning for unfamiliar faces. Every time her phone rang, her heart stuttered. Carla Reeves had gotten inside her head, and that was almost worse than any physical threat.
"I hate this," she admitted. "I hate that she has this power over me. I hate that I flinch every time I hear a car door slam."
"That's not weakness. That's survival instinct." Brian took her hands in his, still streaked with dried blood. "You're allowed to be afraid, Tessa. You're just not allowed to let the fear make your decisions for you."
"Is that what you did? With Lily?"
The question came out before she could stop it. She saw the flicker of pain cross his face and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—"
"No." He cut her off, his grip on her hands tightening.
"It's a fair question. And yeah, that's exactly what I did.
I let the fear win. I let it drive me away from everything I loved, everything I was good at.
I spent two years hiding because I was terrified of feeling that helpless again.
" He met her eyes. "Don't do what I did.
Don't let Carla Reeves take two years of your life. "
"I won't." She said it firmly, making it a vow. "I came here to start over. I'm not going to let anyone take that from me."
"Good." He kissed her forehead. "Now I really do need that shower. I smell like a triage tent."
"You smell like a hero."
"Heroes smell better than this."
He disappeared down the hall, and Tessa stood in the living room, listening to the water start. Bree appeared in the kitchen doorway, a dishtowel in her hands.
"He told you about the accident?" Bree asked.
"He did." Tessa moved to the couch and sank into it, suddenly exhausted. "He saved that woman's life. He and Colby."
"Colby called Sabrina from the shop. She said he sounded almost giddy." Bree came to sit beside her. "Not about the accident, obviously. About Brian. About watching him step back into who he used to be."
"They've known each other a long time."
"Since EMT training in Missouri. Colby was a firefighter there before he moved here.
He and Brian and Hank, they've been through a lot together.
" Bree tucked her legs beneath her. "When Brian stopped responding to calls, when he walked away from all of it, Colby took it hard.
He understood why, but he hated seeing his friend disappear into himself like that. "
"And now he's coming back."
"Because of you." Bree's voice was gentle but certain. "You showed him that it's possible to carry the weight of the things you've lost without letting them crush you. That's not nothing, Tessa. That's everything."
Tessa felt tears prick at her eyes. She'd been holding so much in, trying to be strong, trying not to fall apart in front of Brian when he needed her to be solid. But Bree's kindness cracked something open.
"I'm scared," she admitted. "I try not to be, but I am. Carla's out there somewhere, watching, waiting. And I don't know when it's going to end."
"It will end." Bree reached over and took her hand. "Diaz is good at her job. The whole town is watching out for you. And you've got Brian, Hank, Colby, Sabrina, and me. You're not alone in this."
"I know." Tessa squeezed her hand. "That's the only thing keeping me sane right now. Knowing I'm not alone."
"You never will be. That's what Copper Moon does. It takes care of its own." Bree smiled. "And you're one of us now, whether you planned on it or not."
The words settled into Tessa's chest, warm and solid. One of us. She'd come here as a stranger, a woman running from her past, looking for a place to hide. Instead, she'd found a home. A community. A family.
Her phone buzzed on the coffee table. She glanced at the screen, expecting Diaz, but the number was unfamiliar again. The same local area code as before.
Her blood went cold.
"Don't answer it," Bree said sharply. "Let it go to voicemail."
But Tessa was already reaching for the phone. She needed to know. Needed to hear whatever Carla had to say, if only to understand what they were dealing with.
"Hello?"
"Did you enjoy watching your boyfriend play hero?" Carla's voice was ice. "I was there, you know. On the corner. Watching him pull that woman from the wreck. He's good. I'll give him that."
Tessa's hand tightened on the phone. "You were there."
"I'm always there, Dr. Callahan. That's what you don't seem to understand. I'm everywhere. I see everything. Your morning runs. Your trips to the coffee shop. Your cozy dinners with your new friends." A pause. "Your boyfriend's heroics won't save you. Nothing will."
"The police are going to find you." Tessa kept her voice steady through sheer force of will. "They're looking everywhere. You can't hide forever."
"I'm not hiding." Carla laughed, and it was the most chilling sound Tessa had ever heard. "I'm waiting. There's a difference. When the time is right, you'll know. And by then, it'll be too late."
The line went dead.
Tessa lowered the phone slowly. Her hand was shaking.
"What did she say?" Bree's voice was tight with concern.
"She was at the accident. Watching." Tessa looked up; met Bree's eyes. "She's been watching everything. She knows our routines, our friends, our movements. She's not hiding. She's waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"I don't know." Tessa's voice dropped to a whisper. "But whatever it is, she thinks she's already won."
Brian appeared in the hallway, wet hair dripping onto a clean shirt, his expression shifting from relaxed to alert as he took in their faces.
"What happened?"
"Carla called again." Tessa stood, her legs unsteady. "She was at the accident, Brian. She watched the whole thing. She's been watching us this entire time, and the police can't find her because she's not hiding. She's right here, in plain sight, and we can't see her."
Brian crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. "Then we change the game."
"How?"
"I don't know yet." His jaw was set, his eyes hard. "But she's not the only one who can watch and wait. We've got Diaz, we've got the whole town, and we've got each other. Carla Reeves thinks she's in control? We're going to show her she's wrong."
Tessa pressed her face against his chest, breathing in the clean scent of soap and the solid warmth of him. He was right. They couldn't keep playing defense. Couldn't keep waiting for Carla to make her move.
It was time to fight back.
"Call Diaz," she said. "Tell her about the call. Tell her Carla was at the accident scene."
"Already on it." Brian pulled out his phone with one hand, keeping the other arm around her. "And then we're going to sit down with Hank and Colby and figure out a plan. A real plan. No more waiting."
Bree stood, her expression fierce. "I'll call Sabrina. She'll want to be part of this."
"Part of what?" Tessa asked.
"Whatever comes next." Bree's eyes met hers, steady and determined. "Copper Moon protects its own, Tessa. And right now, that means protecting you."
Tessa looked around at these people who had become her family. Brian, with his phone pressed to his ear, was already talking to Diaz. Bree texting Sabrina, her fingers flying over the screen. The house that had become a sanctuary, filled with the warmth of people who cared.
Carla Reeves wanted to burn her life down.
She had no idea how hard these people would fight to keep that from happening.