Page 109 of Forever To Me

The truck door opens. Sheriff Matthews gets out, arms crossed. “Let me guess,” he sighs, looking directly at me. “Pie-related shenanigans?”

I groan into the grass. “Yes.”

Mack holds up the pie triumphantly. “But we got it!”

Fifteen minutes later, we sit on the curb, still wearing ski masks covered in grass stains. Sheriff Matthews sits on his tailgate, eating a slice of Maggie’s pie right from the pie plate.

“You gonna arrest us?” I ask.

“Nah,” he says, taking another bite. “Maggie said to call her if you tried anything. I’m just supposed to take a picture for the town Facebook page.”

Poppy groans. “I knew it.”

“Say cheese!” he says as he holds up his phone and snaps a picture.

Cami snorts. “Bridger Falls: Land of No Secrets.”

Mack licks pie filling off her finger and shrugs. “Worth it.” And damn it, she’s right.

But we also just had the best damn night of our lives.

Chapter 25

Walker

The bar is quiet now. It's our last night working together since Cash is back tomorrow, and Red will shift her focus to helping me out more at the house. And damn if I don't love having her at my house. My home has always been meant to be full of people. And I'll admit that I'm really going to miss working with her. She makes the bar come alive when she's here. The whole energy in the place changes when she's around. She's one of the hardest workers I've ever met, and our customers love having her here.

The last of the customers are gone for the night, the lights are dimmed, and the only sounds left are the hum of the jukebox on low and the quiet clinking of glasses as Violet puts them away.

We’ve fallen into this simple rhythm, her working beside me, moving through my world like she was always meant to be here.

It’s dangerous.

Because every night she closes the place down with me, it gets harder to picture this bar without her.

Harder to picture my life without her.

I glance up, watching Violet lean against the counter, humming to herself as she wipes down the bar. Rip is sprawled out on the floor, completely dead to the world, his tail flicking lazily whenever Violet shifts. He stays back in the office all night, but comes out here to watch her while we close up.He’s never far from her.

She fits here. And her dog. Seeing her happy with her dog has been worth it.

I should say something. Tell her goodnight, tell her… something that isn’t the truth that claws at the back of my throat.

But instead, I just watch her.And, of course, she notices.

“What?” she asks, smirking as she tosses the rag over her shoulder.

I shake my head, grabbing my keys. “Nothing.”

She follows me toward the door, her presence at my side too familiar now.Too right. And then, right as I flip the sign to Closed, she says it. “You ever get tired of me hanging around?”

She says it lightly, like it’s a joke, but there’s something else in her voice. Something uncertain.

Like she’s testing me.

Like she’s still not sure if she belongs here.

Like she still thinks she might leave.

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