Epilogue
EPILOGUE
ALTA
I held back a wince, knowing the other rangers were watching as I rotated my left shoulder. Everything healed perfectly, but it still turned stiff if I didn’t move it often. Like now, sitting here filling out an incident report for the past hour on the stupid campers who decided to lure and trap six chipmunks to take home.
Idiots.
For the tenth time since I sat down over an hour ago, I glanced to the phone screen, hoping to see a new text. For the past four months, Cas and I had been trying out the long-distance relationship thing. We texted each other every hour, more than that most days. But today I hadn’t heard from him. Worry built in my gut, telling me something was wrong.
Reaching down, I rubbed Benny’s soft head, hoping he had the magical power to calm my racing nerves. A wet tongue popped out and licked up the back of my hand, making me smile. He was fully recovered—as much as he could be, at least. The physical therapist wanted him to be more active, but I couldn’t pull him out of the little doggie depression he’d sunk into.
With another scratch behind his ears, I sighed and pressed the Home button again to make sure I didn’t miss a message.
I didn’t.
“Birdie.” John’s loud voice carried past his closed door. “Get in here.”
Everyone quieted and watched as I pushed back from the desk and straightened my uniform. Since I came back to work, he had given me a wide berth, not talking directly to me, always giving orders in a group setting. It was awkward to say the least. This was the first time he’d initiated a one-on-one conversation in three months.
Pushing the door open wide enough to pop my head through, I found him pacing behind his desk.
Great.
“Yeah, John?” I said, still keeping half my body outside his office.
“Come in. We need to talk.” Not once did his eyes shoot up to acknowledge my entry.
“Okay.” Deep breath in, I pushed the door open wider and stepped inside, pressing my back to the wall. “What’s up?”
“For fuck’s sake, Birdie, I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your deal?” he bit out, finally looking up.
“You. Me.” I waved a hand between us. “It’s awkward, right?”
“Yeah, but we’re going to change that. I miss you.” I blanched at his words, and his eyes widened a fraction. “No, not like that. I mean I miss my friend. I want us to be back on good terms, as friends.”
“Friends,” I mulled over the word. He and Cas were on good terms after Cas saved his life, so there really wasn’t any reason why I couldn’t rebuild my friendship with John. “I’d like that. A lot. But no Sadie.”
“No Sadie,” he laughed with a grimace. “But I called you in here to discuss something else. Walk with me.” After he rounded the desk, he brushed past me and strode down the hall without another look back.
“Okay,” I muttered to myself as I turned to follow. This was weird. “John, what’s going on?”
“We have a new division chief. He’s set to arrive any minute, and I thought we would meet him out in the parking lot.”
“Why? It’s freezing out there.” I pulled to a stop. “Plus, won’t we look like brownnosers?”
His cheeks bunched as a broad smile pulled across his face. “Maybe, but I don’t think you’ll mind.”
I held a breath. “Would Cas…?”
John didn’t respond, just kept walking. Outside, a black SUV was pulling into the parking spot reserved for the chief.
My heart thundered against my chest.
Please be him.
Please be him.
The last four months apart were torture, and I wasn’t looking forward to any more. So much so that I’d recently checked out available jobs in the DC area just to get us in the same city, even though Cas and I both knew I would hate leaving the mountains and my animals.
The driver door swung open. I held a breath as a black hiking boot, then another planted on the blacktop. On their own, my feet moved toward the SUV in search of a better angle to see who the mysterious person was.
His smile was the first thing I zeroed in on. Broad, happy, eager. I smiled back before breaking into a sprint toward Cas, not caring who was watching. With a happy squeal, I leapt into his outstretched arms, our bodies colliding together. Lips pressed against his neck, I nuzzled deep, savoring his heat in the freezing temperatures.
“Well hello to you too,” he said into my hair. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, more than you can imagine.”
“Birdie,” John said at my back, “I’d like you to meet our new division chief, Cas Mathews.”
Pulling back, I smiled up at his handsome face. The beard was gone—something we’d rectify immediately—but the love and pride shining back in those dark eyes were the exact same as four months ago.
“I can’t believe… why didn’t… why not tell me?” I searched his face, taking in every detail I’d only been able to dream about recently.
“I wanted it to be a surprise.” He nodded to the SUV. “Everything I own is in the back. Know somewhere I can stay until I find a place of my own?”
My teeth sank into my lower lip as I nodded. “I bet we could find somewhere.”
His brows furrowed as his features turned serious. “I did bring a new ranger trainee with me. He’ll have to stay with us too, until he goes out for more formal training.”
Crap. What kind of impression was I giving the cadet, who was undoubtedly watching?
I slid down his hard body, Cas’s arms only releasing their hold when my feet were solid on the ground.
“Ready to meet him?” he said with a smirk.
After straightening my shirt and belt, I gave him a nod. Cas shook his head, swung open the back door and reached inside. “Officer Johnson, I’d like you to meet your new trainee, Mac Mathews.”
The soft German shepherd puppy’s muzzle buried deeper into his arms as Cas moved from the cover of the SUV into the whipping wind.
I shrieked.
Shrieked.
“What?” Hands extended, I charged toward him and carefully pulled Mac from his arms. “A puppy?”
Cas shrugged, his face-splitting grin somehow growing wider. “You said Benny needs more exercise. What better way to encourage him to get off his doggie bed than to train this little guy?” Cas’s large hand wrapped around Mac’s head and rubbed back and forth. “You like him?”
“Like him?” I exclaimed as I inhaled Mac’s sweet puppy breath. “I love him.”
“But not as much as me,” Cas said while trying to take Mac from my arms.
I held the nibbling puppy closer to my chest. I smiled as he bit my hand—of course he was a biter, just like his owner. I yanked Cas close, smooshing Mac between us. “There will never be a human, chipmunk, moose, or dog that I’ll love more than you. That’s impossible. There’s no such thing as love bigger than that.”
“There is.” Cas pulled me up for a chaste kiss. “My love for you, Lady.”