30. We Figure Us Out
We Figure Us Out
The body lay a dark shape against snow, already merging with the landscape. Seth didn't look back. With fingers stiff from cold, he found Josie's torn glove, checked their tracks one last time before turning toward the ranch.
"We need to move."
Josie nodded, and Seth watched adrenaline drain from her. Her steps grew less steady each passing minute. One arm remained wrapped protectively around her ribs, and dried blood streaked her temple and beneath her nose. Seth shortened his stride to match hers without a word.
For several minutes, neither spoke. The forest fell impossibly quiet after the gunshot, nothing but snow crunching beneath their boots and the occasional whisper of powder falling from wind-stirred branches. Every few seconds, Seth glanced at her.
Finally, Josie caught his eye. "I'm okay."
"You're bleeding."
"I'm aware."
He scanned her face. "Your ribs? Your head?"
"Both bruised. Probably a mild concussion, but I'll live."
Seth stopped. Josie took two more steps before realizing he no longer moved beside her, and she turned.
"What?"
"Probably?"
A tired smile tugged at her mouth. "I'm a doctor, Seth."
"Then diagnose yourself better."
Despite everything, a small, shaky, real laugh escaped her. "You are unbelievably bossy."
"I've been told."
"I'm guessing you hear that a lot."
"Usually with more profanity."
That earned him another faint smile. Seth stepped closer, his fingers brushing gently beneath the cut at her temple. Josie flinched, and his hand immediately stilled.
"Sorry."
"It's okay."
His thumb hovered near her cheek, over the bruising blooming beneath her skin. A cold, metallic anger coiled in his gut—the kind that came with failure. If he'd waited another hour—
He severed the thought before it could take root. "Come on."
He moved on, and Josie stayed close enough that their shoulders occasionally brushed. After another hundred yards, she broke the silence.
"You came back."
Seth kept his eyes ahead. "Yeah."
"Why?"
He gave her a sideways look. "You really asking?"
"Yes."
He exhaled slowly. He'd had nearly an entire day alone in Beast to figure out what he wanted to say when he saw her again, had imagined this conversation at least twenty different ways. None of those versions included her bloodied, bruised, and walking home after nearly being murdered.
"I made it a couple hours."
A corner of her mouth lifted. "Stubborn."
"Shut up."
She smiled, and Seth shook his head.
"I kept telling myself leaving made sense.
" He stepped over a fallen branch and reached back automatically.
Josie took his hand, let him help her over, and neither of them let go afterward.
"Jay and Cara needed to get home. Sawyer and Addy are waiting on them.
We had supplies people need. We had a plan. "
"And you're a plan person."
"I'm definitely a plan person." Seth looked down at their joined hands, at her fingers wrapped in his. "You happened."
The smile left Josie's lips, her gaze suddenly uncertain.
He swallowed. "And Layla."
Something softened in her eyes at her daughter's name, and Seth forced his gaze forward again, because looking at her made the next words harder.
"I kept seeing that kid standing on the porch asking if I'd come visit.
" He stopped, jaw working for a moment. "Kept hearing you say goodbye.
I drove for hours trying to convince myself it would only be temporary—that maybe we'd find each other again.
Spring. Summer. Whenever." He gave a humorless laugh.
"Like any of us get to make plans six months out anymore. "
Josie's fingers tightened around his. Seth kept walking, his eyes fixed on the path ahead as he spoke.
"I lost Molly and AJ in one day." The names were still raw. Probably always would be. "I woke up one morning with a wife and a son, and by the end of it, they were gone."
Josie said nothing. She simply moved closer, her arm pressing warm against his.
"I couldn't do anything about that." His voice dropped lower. "That's the part that eats at me. I couldn't save them. I couldn't change what happened. I couldn't go back." He looked at her then, and his steps slowed. "But yesterday, I found myself driving away from two people who were still alive."
Josie's eyes filled. "Seth..."
"I know this is complicated."
He stopped. She stopped with him, the forest surrounding them in perfect white silence.
"I don't know what the hell we're doing."
That drew the smallest laugh from her. "Good. Because neither do I."
He smiled, brief and genuine. "But I know what I feel."
Her expression shifted. The defensiveness in her eyes softened into a quiet vulnerability that made his chest ache. Seth reached up and carefully tucked a tangled strand of hair away from her bruised cheek, letting his fingers linger.
"It's deep, Josie." He let the admission settle between them. "This is moving faster than it has any right to, and I don't know what to do with it."
She smiled through tears. "Nothing about this is normal, is it?"
He huffed a laugh. "Apparently." His thumb gently traced the uninjured side of her face, memorizing it. "I care about you. A lot." He took a breath, and his gaze softened further. "And that little girl... somewhere along the way, she got to me too."
Josie's breath caught.
Seth looked away for a second, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "Knowing you two were out here. Knowing anything could happen..." He shook his head slowly. "I couldn't live with that."
Josie searched his face. "Seth, you can't protect us from everything."
"I get that.”
"You can't promise nothing will happen to me."
"I get that too."
"And Layla—"
"I know." He squeezed her hand, anchoring them both. "This isn't me saying I think you need someone standing over you with a rifle." A faint smile appeared. "Although today isn't exactly helping my argument."
She let out a soft laugh. "Asshole."
"Figured you were still in there."
Her smile lingered a moment before his expression turned serious again.
"I'm saying I want to be here."
Josie's eyes filled again before she could think of a single thing to say.
"You'd stay? For us?"
"Yeah." He hesitated, vulnerability flickering across his face. "If you'll have me."
She looked down at their intertwined fingers. "Well, you've wrecked my perfectly simple plan."
His brows pulled together. "What?"
"I had a perfectly reasonable plan."
"Oh yeah?"
"The plan was for you to go back to Cara and Jay's. I would stay here. It was... simpler that way."
He actually laughed then—a real laugh, deep and unguarded. The sound seemed to break the tension of the last few hours. Josie shook her head, but she was smiling now, a genuine warmth breaking through the exhaustion and bruises. Then her expression gentled into something more honest.
"I was going to miss you."
Seth's laughter faded. "I already missed you."
That silenced her completely. He lifted her hand and pressed his lips gently against her knuckles—nothing desperate, nothing demanding, quiet affection offered without condition.
Josie stepped into him and rested her forehead against his chest. Seth wrapped his arms carefully around her, mindful of her ribs. They stood together beneath the snow-covered trees as the cold settled, and neither made a move to pull away.
Josie tilted her head back to look at him. "What happens now?"
Seth gazed down at her. "First?"
"Yeah."
"We get you back to the ranch."
"And then?"
His gaze shifted toward the trees, in the direction of the man they'd left behind, and a coldness crept back into his expression. "We figure out who the hell he meant when he said more were coming."
The smile fell from Josie's face.
Seth squeezed her hand. "But after that..." He looked back at her, and the hard tension left his eyes. "We figure out us."
A small smile returned to her lips. "Together?"
"That's what I was thinking."
Josie rose onto her toes and kissed him—brief and soft, nothing like the desperate kisses they'd shared before. It was a steady pressure, a promise that lingered after she pulled away. When she pulled away, Seth kept his forehead pressed against hers, unwilling to surrender the closeness yet.
"Come on, Doc." He intertwined their fingers again, his grip warm and sure. "Let's go home."