The crunch of tires on gravel cut through the moment.
We sprang apart. Daisy stumbled back, cheeks flushed, breathing hard. I turned away, grabbing my shirt from the ground, pulling it over my head as Cal's truck came into view.
"Shit," Daisy breathed.
"Go inside," I said quietly. "I'll handle this."
She hesitated. Looked at me with something desperate in her eyes.
"Tonight," I said. "Eleven o'clock. I'll tell you everything."
She nodded and disappeared into the cabin, the door closing behind her.
I picked up my hammer and got back to work, keeping my face neutral as Cal climbed out of his truck and walked toward me.
"Looking good," Cal said, surveying the progress. "You work fast."
"Trying to get it done before the next storm."
"Speaking of storms." Cal's eyes sharpened. "Thanks for checking on Daisy last night. She okay?"
"She's fine. Power was out, but she handled it."
"Good." Cal was quiet for a moment. "She's been through a lot lately. That guy in Denver did a number on her."
My jaw tightened. "What kind of number?"
"The kind that makes a woman forget her worth." Cal met my eyes. "I don't know the details. She won't talk about it. But I know the signs."
I thought about the way Daisy held herself now. Guarded. Careful. The walls she'd built that hadn't been there eight years ago.
"She's stronger than she looks," I said.
"She is." Cal studied me with that cop stare, the one that saw everything. "Just make sure you remember that."
He went inside and I stood there, hammer in hand, wondering if that had been a warning or a blessing.
With Cal, it was hard to tell.
I finished up for the day, packed my tools, and drove home to wait for eleven o'clock.
Tonight, everything would change.
I had no idea if it would be for better or worse.
Chapter 8: Daisy
I waited until Cal's light went off at ten thirty.
Then I waited another fifteen minutes, lying in bed fully clothed, heart pounding, staring at the ceiling. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I slipped out of my room, down the stairs, and out the back door into the cool mountain night.
The overlook was a twenty-minute hike from Cal's cabin. I knew the trail by heart, even in the dark. I'd walked it a hundred times that summer, sneaking out after midnight to meet Knox at our spot, drunk on secrecy and the thrill of doing something I shouldn't.
Tonight felt different though. Heavier. Like I was walking toward something that would change everything.
The trail broke through the trees, and the overlook spread out before me. A rocky outcropping that jutted over the valley, the entire town of Hollow Peak glittering below like scattered diamonds. The sky was clear, stars thick enough to touch, the Milky Way a bright smear across the darkness.
Knox was sitting on the flat rock at the edge of the overlook, knees drawn up, staring out at the valley. He turned when he heard my footsteps, and even in the starlight I could see the tension in his shoulders and the set of his jaw.