She stopped, letting the barrel of her gun tilt toward the ground.
“You killed him?” Ashley said, her voice high and nervous.
Scarlet didn’t flinch. “I wasn’t going to let him walk away with my daughters out there.” She stomped past all of us to the house, and slammed the door behind her.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, we all followed. Scarlet was inside the bedroom, talking to Elleny, whose whimpers turned into wails.
“What do we do?” Miranda said.
“Looks like it’s taken care of,” Bryce said. He tugged on her hand, and she followed him back to their bedroom.
Cooper and Ashley did the same, even though Ashley was still upset and asking questions.
Joey and I stood in the living room alone, listening to Scarlet speak calmly to Elleny. After an hour, she emerged from the bedroom.
“She’s asleep.”
“That was . . . I’ve never seen anything like that in my life, have you?” Joey said.
“No,” I said, a little shocked that he’d even had to ask.
“They should all get the same end.” Scarlet propped her rifle against the wall by the door, and then fell onto the couch, on top of her covers. “Better get some sleep. It’s too late to bury him tonight, so we’re going to have work to do in the morning.”
“You shot twice,” I said. “So did you make sure he wouldn’t come back?”
Scarlet nodded. “I shot him in the dick, first.”
Joey shook his head, satisfied. “Bastard. What did he do, take her in the chaos?”
Scarlet took a deep breath. “Her parents were killed. He lived down the street. She thought she had no other choice, even after he . . . she’s safe now. She’s going to be okay.”
I kneeled beside her. “That is a freak occurrence. You know that, right? Andrew is with Halle and Jenna, and they’re safe.”
Scarlet nodded. “Everyone’s a little safer now.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Miranda
ELLENY FOLLOWED SCARLET AROUND LIKE a scared child, even after she helped bury Kevin’s body. We were all stunned for days after. I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked about what Kevin had done, what he was caught doing, or that Scarlet had killed him. The house didn’t feel the same, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the new, awkward addition, or because we realized that it wasn’t just teds that we had to fear.
Because Elleny stayed so close to Scarlet and so far from the rest of us, it was hard to get to know her. I didn’t know how to talk to her, anyway. I’d never known anyone that had been through something like that. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so I didn’t say anything at all.
Nathan and Zoe had returned to the front bedroom, but Scarlet moved downstairs with Elleny, leaving Joey the couch. That made it easier for me to stay up and talk to him at night, and I felt more like we were just hanging out as friends instead of sneaking around in the basement like . . . nonfriends. I couldn’t even say the word, that’s how wrong it felt.
Whatever it was, I couldn’t deny that I liked being around Joey. I more than liked it. Even if a moment had to be stolen when no one was looking. Bryce would get so angry to even see us chatting about nothing in particular, so I took what I could get because going too long without a moment with him made me feel like I was suffocating.
Everyone seemed to be suffocating. We were surviving, but every passing day felt less like living.
Every morning and night, Scarlet would stand out on the porch my father built and watch the red hill for her daughters. Nathan would wait with her, assuring her that they would come. Ashley pretended to be a teacher. The guys tried to keep themselves busy with upkeep of the house, and taking shifts to patrol the perimeter, and Joey and I pretended to ignore each other, but what was supposed to be our safe haven was beginning to feel like a prison.
Nathan, though, didn’t seem to feel the weight like the rest of us. He and Scarlet would spend hours talking. Once, I walked by the door and saw them holding hands while they waited together on the porch. After that, they seemed to steal more moments alone, sharing secrets and whispering jokes that only the two of them found funny. Joey and I were sitting up late one night, talking in the darkness of the living room, and were both startled when the French doors opened, revealing Scarlet.
“Hi,” she said, looking caught. “We were just talking.”
I shrugged, and so did Joey. “So are we,” I said.
Scarlet nodded before retreating downstairs to join Elleny.
Joey looked at me. I was barely able to see his eyebrow rise in the dim light. “Think they were . . .”
“No. Zoe’s in there.”
“So?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head, disgusted in Zoe’s honor. “I remember walking in on my parents, once. It scarred me for life.”
“My parents split up when I was four,” Joey said. “I don’t remember what it’s like to have them both in the house.”
“Your mom never dated?”
“Once or twice. I did a pretty good job of scaring them off. I was a hateful little shit.”
I smiled. “I can see that.”
Nathan
I DIDN’T MEAN TO KEEP making comparisons, but Aubrey was the first woman I’d ever loved. So I had to wonder, now, feeling the way I did about Scarlet, if I just loved her differently than I ever had Aubrey, or if it meant I’d never really loved Aubrey at all.
My life went from one disappointing day to another, to keeping track of time by how much was spent with Scarlet, and how much time was spent between the moments I spent with her. We would sit on the porch and wait together, and she would tell me about her girls, how funny and smart and talented they were, and what it was like to bring them into this world. She talked about her marriage, and her decision to leave. I’d already thought she was maybe the strongest, bravest woman I’d met, but to listen to how alone she was in that decision, with no support, I couldn’t help but be in awe of her.
Each night was a buildup to when I would finally have enough balls to touch her. Sometimes I would play it off with a nudge, or a playful smack on her leg, and she wouldn’t mind if I left it there. Childish, but she was nothing if not intimidating . . . and distractingly beautiful. I found it difficult not to stare at her, and was glad for the dim light after the sun went down, and that the darkness gave me an excuse to concentrate on her mouth while she spoke.
It felt strange—this happiness I’d found in such a dark time. But with Zoe content in our new home and the routine we’d found, and finding Scarlet, the only thing that bothered me was what life would have been like without death descending on the world. What did it mean that I’d had such good fortune when so many had lost everything?
Sitting on the top step of the porch next to Scarlet, it was easy to forget the nightmare that was just beyond that hill, and that she wasn’t just outside spending time with me, but passing the time while waiting for her children, the true loves of her life.
“I’m still sweating,” Scarlet said, letting go of my hand to lift the collar of her T-shirt to dab her forehead. “Summer must be in full swing.”
The locust and crickets were taking over the symphony the birds had just ended. “It’s going to be another hot one.”
“Triple digits. Again. Probably.” She reached over to lace her fingers in mine.
