Page 66 of 15 Summers Later

“I remember,” Ava said, her voice low.

Madi gave her an unreadable look but said nothing.

“Thanks for the tour. You really have created something amazing here. I’m happy for you.”

It was too easy sometimes to think of Madi as fragile, wounded, but she knew that wasn’t the full story. Her sister was a survivor, something she had tried hard to portray inGhost Lake.

Madi gave her a wary look, as if not quite sure whether to believe her. “Thanks,” she said, as her phone buzzed with a text.

She checked it, then an odd look twisted her features, one Ava couldn’t quite interpret. Yet another reason to grieve her relationship with her sister. Once, she could guess everything her sister was thinking.

“I’ve got to go,” Madi said. “That’s Luke. I need to call him back.”

That was odd. What would cause Madi’s face suddenly to turn pink and her eyes to take on that faraway expression?

“I’ll heed your advice, then, and head home for a jacket. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Don’t forget a water bottle. I’ll bring some extra water if we need it, but you’ll want your own bottle.”

She nodded and left, already dreading the evening ahead of them.

18

As our escape unfolds, hunger claws at our stomachs, a constant reminder of the price we pay for our freedom. We forage for berries and edible plants, our fingers stained with the juices of the wild. The taste is bitter, but the sustenance is a lifeline in the unforgiving landscape. Each morsel is a testament to our resilience, a reminder that we are survivors, not just of captivity, but of the wilderness that seeks to consume us.

—Ghost Lakeby Ava Howell Brooks

Madison

As she hurried back to the office, Madi was torn between being nervous about speaking with Luke for the first time since their stunning kiss or being baffled by her sister’s odd behavior.

It was easier to focus on Ava, she decided as she returned to the office. Why did Ava need to talk to her husband so urgently?

Was their marriage in trouble? She wasn’t sure what gave her that worry but since Ava had returned to Emerald Creek, she acted so strangely whenever Cullen’s name came up.

If it were true, if they were breaking up, Madi would find it beyond tragic. She adored Cullen and had from the first time she met him.

He always treated Madi with kindness and respect and she never saw pity in his gaze when he looked at her.

She understood why Ava couldn’t go to Ghost Lake by herself. Madi wasn’t thrilled about it, either. She tried to avoid that area when possible. Still, it wasn’t as if they would be going to the Coalition camp again. From what she understood, the dinosaur hunters had set up on the opposite side of the lake, at least a mile away from the ruins of the compound.

When she reached her office, Madi sank into her desk chair and took a few deep breaths. She didn’t want to sound like she had just raced across the rescue to talk to him, as if he only had to call for her to come running.

Okay, it might be the truth, but Luke didn’t need to know that.

Her nervousness annoyed her. Luke was her friend. She had no reason to feel so on edge.

He answered on the second ring. “Hi,” he said. “Thanks for calling me back.”

She tried not to picture his mouth forming those words—the same mouth that had been flavored with cinnamon and chocolate when he kissed her the night before.

“Hello,” she managed. “I got your text. What’s up?”

He hesitated. Was it possible he might be as ill at ease to be speaking with her as she was with him?

“You told me Ed went up in the mountains over the weekend, looking for those stray dogs we heard about, but didn’t have any luck. I got another report from some sheepherders up there who said they saw a couple of dogs running loose around Elk Flat Road. I thought I might take Sierra up there this evening to look for them. Want to go with us?”

She would much prefer doing that, riding up with Luke and Sierra looking for dogs, instead of taking Ava on some mysterious errand to see her husband.

---