Chapter Thirty-Six
Evan
Firebrook Valley
The red and blue lights hit my rearview like a slap. One quick flash, then steady. I checked the speedometer. Thirty-eight in a thirty-five. Not even close to worth a ticket. I eased the truck onto the gravel shoulder, killed the engine, and waited.
Tim took his sweet time getting out of the cruiser.
Boots crunched slowly on the gravel. Sunglasses still on, even though the sun had already dropped behind the ridge.
He sauntered up like he had all afternoon to waste, leaned one forearm on the roof of my truck, and tapped the window with two knuckles.
I rolled it down. “Afternoon, Officer.”
“Afternoon, Holliston.” He tipped his head toward the open road. “You were doing a real public service back there. Keeping the speed limit honest.”
“Appreciate the compliment.”
He grinned, slow and shit-eating, the same one he had worn since we were twelve and he caught me sneaking the last of Mabel’s day-old cinnamon rolls. “Get out here.”
I climbed down, shut the door, and leaned back against the fender. Tim crossed his arms. His badge caught the last of the light.
“Nice truck,” he said, nodding at the new tires I had put on last week. “Looks like you’re planning on staying awhile.”
“Looks like.”
He rocked back on his heels. “Barn still looks like a war zone. Roof is half off. Siding is peeling. You two gonna live in that house with a barn that’s one good wind away from being kindling?”
I snorted. “We’re getting to it.”
“Yeah, well.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the cruiser. “I have tomorrow off. I can swing by with the nail gun and a couple rolls of tar paper. Help you patch the worst of it before snow flies.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You offering free labor or looking for an excuse to boss me around?”
“Both.” He shrugged. “Mostly the first one. Seeing you happy is worth a Saturday. I might be able to round up some other volunteers.”
I looked away for a second, toward the valley where the lights were starting to wink on. “You could have texted that, you know. Saved yourself the siren drama.”
“Where is the fun in that?” Tim smirked. “Besides, I wanted to see your face when I pulled you over.”
I waited.
He dropped the grin. “I’m glad you’re sticking around, man. For real. Things have been quieter. Not perfect. Nora’s father still looks a little ragged, but having you back has helped calm the place down.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. I had not done any of this for the town, but hearing that the valley had noticed anyway made something shift inside me.
The same quiet settling I had felt talking to my father yesterday.
Family dinners. All of us. Bella, Drew, Nora, Brady, even Mom if she would come.
I had pushed for it because I was tired of the fractures.
Tim’s words made me realize the town was tired of them too.
“I’m glad it’s working out.”
Silence stretched comfortably between us. Crickets started up in the ditch. A truck rumbled past, high beams flashing once in greeting.
Tim cleared his throat. “So. You gonna make it official? With Nora, I mean.”
I laughed under my breath. “Been on my mind. A lot lately. But I don’t want to rush her. She is just getting her feet under her. New house. Mabel’s. The tutoring program.”
Tim stared at me like I had grown a second head.
“Rush her? She has been in love with you her entire damn life, Evan.” He said it slowly, like he was explaining gravity to a toddler.
“She lit up like a Christmas tree every time you walked into Mabel’s when we were kids.
She still does. If you move any slower, you’re both gonna be dead before you make it down the aisle.
And then I’m gonna have to arrest your ghost for being a lifelong dumbass. ”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Heat crawled up my neck.
Tim just waited, eyebrows raised.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Point taken.”
“Good.” He pushed off the fender. “Because the line forms behind me, Kai, Owen, Palila, Emma, and probably Mabel with a rolling pin if you drag your feet much longer. Or break her heart.”
I laughed, real and surprised. The sound bounced off the empty road. “Noted.”
He clapped me on the shoulder, hard enough to jostle me. “Get her a ring, Holliston. Do it right. She deserves the whole damn fairy tale after everything.”
I nodded. “She does.”
The decision settled in me then, clean and certain. Life didn’t have to be as difficult as I was a making it. I loved her. She loved me. We could do this.
Tim headed back toward the cruiser, then paused, half turned. “And Evan?”
“Yeah?”
“You know I never thought I’d say this to anyone but . . .” He grinned again, softer this time. “I love pulling you over. It’s such a power trip.”
He laughed once, short and sharp, and climbed into the driver’s seat. The lights flicked off. The cruiser rolled away, taillights fading red into the dusk.
I stood there a minute longer, hands in my pockets, watching the valley settle into evening. Tomorrow I’d go see the woman who ran the little jewelry shop on Main Street, the one who had been setting stones since before we were born.
I pictured Nora barefoot in that half-finished house, streaked with plaster dust, arguing with the wallpaper like it could hear her. Laughing anyway. Building something out of nothing like she always did.
Tonight, though, I just wanted to get home.
To Nora.