54. Ridley

54

RIDLEY

FOUR MONTHS LATER

I stood barefoot at the edge of Constellation Lake, Colt’s lake, the water lapping at my feet, staring out at the horizon as the sun sank lower behind the mountains. It was breathtaking, the beauty of this spot, one that had been so special to Colt all his life and one where I’d found peace too.

A place that had become ours .

A place that I’d decided to stay because it was home—thanks to Colt and the people I’d found here. It wasn’t the perfect place. There had been more than a little pain in Shady Cove. But there were also people devoted to making it right.

Sophie and Colt had set out making sure that Tara was able to file a civil case against Coach Kerr for statutory rape. But it was Dean who’d found the other piece of the puzzle as he’d set to work on his own podcast. The coach had been dealing opiates and steroids and using students to peddle it.

You might suspect a teenager of dealing some pot in a small town, but the harder stuff? No one had considered they’d been part of the drug problem in the county. And more than that, Kerr had confessed to injecting Jason Kipp with the dose that had sent him stumbling off the side of that lookout. All because Jason had wanted out of Kerr’s drug-peddling circle.

Kerr wouldn't be getting out of prison anytime soon, and that was just fine with the people of Shady Cove. They were healing. And Emerson was included in that. She wasn’t quite ready for expeditions away from home, but she was spending more time outside, with Trey, and that was the first step.

I was finding that healing too, those first embers of peace. When I placed a hand over my heart, I could feel Avery there. She’d always be with me, no matter where I went. And that would always be far and wide because, despite everything that had happened, I was still determined to give victims a voice.

Now it would just be with Colt at my side. We’d work the cases from here, and then I’d head out on location for a week or two, always eager to return home when I was done—to come back to him.

A throat cleared, pulling me from my thoughts, and I turned to find my dad. He looked different. Not the father he was before Avery vanished or the one in the first years after she was gone; he was someone else entirely. And while I loved all three versions, I liked this one the most.

“You ready?” he asked, a tender smile pulling at his lips. “Your mom is just getting the candles.”

I nodded, countless emotions shifting through my chest. “Thanks for doing this.”

We’d had a memorial back in Ohio after the officials released Avery to us. I got to hear countless stories about all the lives my sister had touched, all the ways she would live on through that. But there was something I needed to do for me, for us, and the bond that would always be only ours.

My dad moved into my space, something he did easily now. He pulled me into his arms, resting his chin on my head. “She’d be so proud of you. And she’d love us remembering her this way.”

My throat constricted, but it wasn’t with pain now. It was with an abundance of gratitude. I’d gotten the privilege of loving Avery for twenty-two years in this life and forever in the next. “I miss her,” I whispered.

“That’s never going to stop,” Dad croaked.

“It’s the mark of loving her so deeply.”

“It is,” he echoed, releasing me at the sound of voices.

We turned to find Colt and my mom walking toward us, Bowser and Tater bounding around them. Colt’s and my creatures had found their rhythm too. They got along best when causing us massive amounts of trouble, but we’d take it however we could get it.

I took their arrival as my sign. I bent to pick up the wreath of wildflowers, one with pale pinks I knew Avery would love. It housed a packet of ashes—one made of a special material that would dissolve slowly in the water once she made it beyond the shallows, to where she’d finally find her peace.

As I straightened, strong arms engulfed me, pulling me into a body that was always my refuge. Colt’s lips brushed my temple. “You okay?”

I nodded against his chest. “It’s time.”

My mom sent me a wobbly smile as the sun sank beneath the mountains and the first stars began to glimmer. “Those starry skies were always her favorite.”

My eyes filled as I returned her smile. “From the first perfect constellation on our ceiling.”

Mom laughed, some tears leaking out with it. “I cursed getting you girls those glow-in-the-dark stickers. You put them everywhere.”

I swallowed down the memories, holding them close. “But now they’ll light her way home.”

My mom nodded, sniffling as she lit the candles Colt held. He in turn gave one to her and my dad, while he held on to the other. We all stood there quietly for a moment, the animals stilling as if reading our mood. I held the wreath with one hand and placed the other over my heart.

“I carry you always,” I whispered.

Stepping out of Colt’s hold, I moved into the water, its cooling temperatures swirling up to my knees. I set the wreath down and, with a gentle push, finally set Avery free.

Colt met me in the shallows, as he always did, my feet sinking into the sandy floor, the earth closing over the tops of my toes. But I felt no panic. Only peace. Because I knew Colt would always lead me out of the shallows and into that bit of starlight we’d stolen for ourselves.