Epilogue
Quinn
Six Months Later
I love the winter months, honestly. Later sunrises and more time in bed. Early sunset and early to bed. The blizzard we had last week cut the electricity for two whole days. Lucas and I found how little we needed lights or artificial heat.
Walking up the wooden stairs in Fallon’s shop, I smile to myself as I remember a year ago and how much I never thought I’d see him again.
Now, here we are, sharing a dinner table.
Although, we never eat at it. When we find ourselves at home, and alone, I’m usually sitting on the counter with him standing between my legs, both of us taking bites between conversation and laughing and kisses.
I move toward the small conference room, seeing him through the glass. He sits at an oval table, facing me with Mr. Bassett across from him, his back to me.
“I understand what you’re saying,” I hear Bassett tell Lucas, “but we’ve owned those hills for two generations. You understand our hesitance to change something that suits us so well?”
Lucas lifts his eyes to me, and I see a gleam rise.
“I do.” He focuses back on his hopeful partner. “And I will not encourage you to sign a contract until it’s exactly what you want. I’m interested in doing what it takes to ensure you’re not only comfortable, but excited.”
Lucas has been helping Fallon here when he can, but Weston has kept him more than occupied.
He started off with an office above Samson Fletcher’s barber shop, and now he and the town have cleaned up their City Hall enough to where the entire first floor can be used.
There’s a food bank, a shelter, a small market has reopened downtown, and a bank will open in the spring.
Still no police, and I worry Farrow is getting in his way.
It’s baffling to watch them. They argue, but they do it while working out at the gym together.
There are still months of snow, though, so not much else can be done right now except planning his resort that he wants to build right next to Pine Tree Peak, the local slopes.
“Right now, you’ve got some hills,” Lucas explains, “and a grab-and-go eatery, and locals frequent your place because there are no other options.”
I stare at his relaxed posture in his chair, his ankle resting over the other knee. I love him out of clothes, and I love him in clothes. He’s just as hot in snow gear as he is in my shower.
I pinch the zipper of my ski jacket.
“When I build Summit Falls,” he goes on, “I don’t want to take business away from you. My goal is that it will bring in more.”
Pulling the zipper down, I watch as his gaze rises and feel the cool air touch the naked skin underneath my jacket. No shirt. No bra. No fear.
His lips part, and I grip the jacket, ready to close it if his guest turns around.
“I…” he stammers and clears his throat. “I understand being apprehensive about change.” He darts his eyes to Bassett, then to me, and back to Bassett, trying to fight the smile wanting to escape him.
“You’re happy with the way things are. But is everyone else?
This means more employment, conservation, enrichment for youth, more options for entertainment for local families… ”
I open my jacket, flashing him, and his eyes widen. He can’t control it. He laughs nervously and bows his head, coughing to try to deflect. I hold it open, chills spreading over my skin every second his guest doesn’t turn around.
Lucas rubs his hand across the back of his neck, and my face is hot. My body is hot. Everything is hot.
“All right.” Mr. Bassett picks up the VR headset. “Show me this thingy again.”
They both stand up, and Lucas throws me a glare like the ones I get when I’m about to be given chores that make me sweat in ways I love.
“Who knew you were going to be the naughtiest?” a voice says next to me.
I slam my jacket closed, turning my head to see Aro on my right side and then Isobel on my left. Shit.
“It’s always the quiet ones,” Isobel muses, popping an almond into her mouth.
Lucas’s Dubai assistant has been here for a month, helping him plan the resort and find investors while she studies under Fallon.
She heads back to Dubai in six weeks, but I’m hoping she visits often.
I can understand this town is a step down from what she’s used to, but she’s worked with Lucas for years and can anticipate him.
It’ll just be a hassle for him to train someone else.
Aro’s been assisting him in Weston as an “unofficial consultant,” meaning she gives him the inside information when Farrow withholds it.
I zip up my jacket, pushing the two of them back down the stairs and leaving him to work in peace.
An hour later, Isobel and Aro sit on a ski lift with Dylan and cruise over my head as I sit in the icy snow on Pine Tree Peak. Looking behind me, I see Lucas ride his snowboard, leaning back and expertly curving over to me where I’d fallen off to the side. Snow flies up as he skids to a halt.
“The only good thing about this is how hot you look doing that,” I call out, lifting my goggles up onto my helmet.
It seems I spend an unnecessary fortune on gear every time I snowboard or ski because I only do it once every three or four years and my size changes. Dylan gave me a pair of her white pants, and I was able to reuse the helmet and jacket, but I had to buy new goggles.
Lucas is dressed all in black.
“I thought you liked skiing,” he tells me.
“I like the ski lifts.”
That ride is always relaxing. Until it’s time to get off.
He removes his snowboard and plops down behind me, his legs around me. Tipping my chin back, he kisses my lips.
“And I love après-ski,” I whisper.
I love getting everything off and getting warm with him.
“That was not very nice what you pulled in the office,” he growls a little.
“I think I’m very nice.”
Our family is all around the mountain somewhere. Except James. He’s probably in the lodge, whipping up mischief.
Skiers and snowboarders coast by us, having a ball, and I can smell the snow clouding the sky. January has been an eventful month for weather, but I’m not complaining.
I thread my fingers through Lucas’s as they snake around my waist.
“Have you had enough skiing?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Wanna go home?”
“Yeah.”
He hugs me close. “Okay,” he says. “But you gotta get your ass down the hill one last time.”
I crash back into him harder. “Ugh.”
We sit there for a minute, out of the way, watching Hunter and Kade race by, carving eights into the snow with their boards. I can just make out Juliet on the bunny hill with Aro’s brother, teaching him some beginner moves.
Lucas is going to be here or—hopefully—at his resort every winter. He loves the snow. “I’m going to have to learn, aren’t I?”
I want him to say “no.” Or tell me I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, but instead, he replies, “Yes.”
I eye him over my shoulder.
“I can’t own a ski resort and my wife not ski,” he explains.
Wife?
Butterflies swarm my stomach, and I can’t keep the smile at bay.
I know this isn’t his actual proposal, but it’s the first time he’s alluded to our future together.
Is it really going to be Lucas and me? Forever?
He smiles back and lowers his mouth to mine, but I can’t even kiss him properly, I’m almost giggling.
“Quinn,” he scolds, wanting his kiss.
But I just laugh, shrinking down in his arms under his cocked eyebrow. “I’m sorry!”
He growls and bears down, grabbing my lips with his.
And my chest caves, breathless.
God, I love him. Our quiet talks and our quiet house and our quiet nights.
But it won’t be a quiet wedding. I’ll be taking over the town that day.
Winslet stands on the balcony of the ski lodge, steam from her breath barely visible. She doesn’t breathe. Not really. Manas once called her a creature, not human. Maybe, after all this time, she understands what he meant.
The way she didn’t need air to live, but rather absorbed whatever was on his lips when he pressed them to her skin.
And the way he said her cunt was poison. Like a drug that made him think only of her when he couldn’t have her.
Lucas helps Quinn to her feet, slowly gliding down the mountain in short stints and waiting for her as she timidly follows.
If she leaves now, she can get into 01 Knock Hill while Lucas and Quinn are out and leave one last present for them.
But it’s best to leave it alone. Let Lucas concentrate on rebuilding Weston. She wants it to thrive before both towns burn.
And perhaps, there are other players to mobilize in the meantime.
She scans the slopes, spotting wild little Dylan flying over a ramp and beautiful Aro, still shaky with her new snowboard.
They both went searching Camp Blackhawk last summer with Quinn and others, but they didn’t find what is certainly there.
It’s not their fault. It’s hidden as well as the memories of when Manas and Deacon found her that summer, after the night rides, when the blood still soaked the ground.
That…was a glorious night.
She moves away from the railing but notices the white-haired girl in black ski pants.
She wears a red-and-black-checkered flannel as she sails through the air, spinning, and then landing before skidding to a halt at the base next to some young men.
She beams, removing her helmet to reveal a light blue Cubs cab on backward underneath, Farrow Kelly high-fives her.
Winslet toys with the stud in her earlobe and watches the young woman, the Shelburne Falls girl who joined a Weston family. Someone who knows what it’s like to not feel love from others and finally feel home somewhere and not want to lose it.
The best thing about thieves is that people think that’s all there is to know about them. But their most valuable quality is desperation.
What isn’t Thomasin Dietrich capable of?
What would it take to find out?
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Quiet Ones!