Page 104 of All Along The Watchtower

“Dad! Bree! Come on, I’m starving, and Mimi won’t let us eat until everyone’s out here!”

We broke apart at Peyton’s voice. Bree’s cheeks were flushed, her lips curved in a soft smile that made me want to kiss her again just to coax out more of that softness she hid so deeply beneath that prickly exterior.

She gestured toward the door. “We should probably...”

“Yeah.” I caught her hand, threading our fingers together. “Let’s go celebrate.”

Outside, Bree got pulled away from me and into the divvying up of food. But that was okay. We had time.

“You’re looking a lot less like a guy on a gallows walk,” Sawyer observed. “What turned that attitude around?”

I gave him the update from Langston, watching the tension ease from his shoulders as well. He still hadn’t fully forgiven himself for what he considered losing Peyton on his watch.

“Damn, that’s awesome. Seems like things are finally settling down.”

“Thank God. I’d like some time to just be, you know?” I felt like I’d been in the middle of a hurricane since January, caught in an endless cycle of one crisis after another. The thought of a quiet evening with Bree and Peyton sounded like heaven.

“I hear that.” He glanced over, his eyes thoughtful. “You talked to Rios since the arrest?”

News of Miles Busby’s arrest and the contents of the video had swept the island like wildfire. The Busby family was, of course, utterly devastated. But the one good thing to come outof all of it was that Rios was, at last, unequivocally cleared of suspicion in Gwen’s disappearance. Thirteen years was a long time to carry that kind of weight.

“I don’t think he knows how to feel about it. And I’m not sure he’ll believe people are really over blaming him until he’s come home and seen it first-hand.” I’d talked to him briefly, but the conversation had been stilted, weighted with too many years of distance.

“Hope he’ll do that soon. I miss our boy.”

“Same,” I agreed. Despite all the chaos and danger, being home around family and friends had been fantastic, and I wanted the same for all the Wayward Sons. Maybe then our circle would finally be complete again.

Across the yard, Bree fell into a fit of laughter with her grandfather. I couldn’t help but grin. It was so damned good to see her smile. So damned good to be a part of it, when I knew I’d caused so much hurt.

“It’s good to see you two happy,” Sawyer observed.

“It’s good to be happy. I never thought she’d forgive me.”

“And now that she has?”

I understood what he was really asking. “I want something real and permanent with her. But with everything that’s happened, I’m not sure Peyton is ready for that.”

Sawyer rolled his eyes. “That girl’s been in match-making mode with the two of you practically from the beginning. She’ll be on board.”

“He’s totally right,” she whispered behind me.

I jolted, uncomfortably reminded that my kid could walk like a cat. “You’d be good with that?”

She looked at me with far more wisdom than a fourteen-year-old almost high school freshman ought to possess. “Dad, if you don’t lock that down, I will forever question your intelligence.”

I looked from her to Sawyer, who only grinned.

“Well, I guess you told me.” I snagged her around the neck and pulled her in so I could ruffle her hair and press a smacking kiss to her head. She squirmed in mock protest and giggled. “But today is for you. We can plan the asking for later.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Peyton declared. “Right now, I’m having more cake.”

Sawyer and I watched her trot over to the picnic table.

“Priorities,” he said.

I grinned. “Priorities.”

EPILOGUE

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