Sure. My last words to her had been sure.
I knew I’d just told her that I loved her right before that, but I wished I’d been able to tell her one more time—to reiterate how much I loved her.
“I called Liam,” Nash said, startling me. I hadn’t heard him come inside. He crossed to where I stood at the sink and turned the faucet off. I smoothed a hand over my face. I hadn’t realized I’d left the tap on. “He’s going to tell the others. Are you okay?”
I locked eyes with him. Tears built even though I didn’t think it was possible. They fell from my eyes in large drops that tracked down my cheeks. I shook my head, my face twisting into an ugly expression while I continued to cry. “No. I’m not okay.”
Nash pulled me to him again. “I’m here with you. We’ll get through this together,” he said. “I promise.”
A knock sounded at the door.
Nash filled my glass with tap water and handed it to me before answering the door. His gesture was sweet, but it made me cry even harder because I was so thankful that he was sticking to his word.
He was here. Nash was with me. And we were going to get through this together.
“Hey, I came as soon as I heard. I wanted to see how Sam is doing.” Tris’s voice floated through the cabin to my ears.
“She’s hurting, and pretty shook up, but she’ll be okay,” Nash replied. “I’m seeing to it.”
I stepped into the living room. The moment Tris saw me, tears immediately burst from her eyes. She crossed to where I stood and pulled me in for a hug.
“I’m so sorry,” she insisted. “Your Gran was such an amazing woman. She’s the reason I’m here. I owe her so much for telling me to come to this place.”
“I didn’t know that,” I whispered, shocked as she released me.
Gran mentioned Tris multiple times, but mainly about her being Liam’s mate as well as the clan’s Mystic.
“Yeah, I stopped to eat at Earl’s Diner the night I was fleeing my ex. She bought my meal and told me about this place. She said I could rent an RV for the night or for as long as I needed,” Tris said with a slight smile. “She showed me kindness in a moment when I needed it so badly, and I’ll forever be thankful to her because of it.”
“That sounds like Gran. She always did try to help others.” I wiped at my tears. “I remember one summer there was a couple who came through the campground that were foster parents. They had three four-year-old girls they were fostering at the time, and they also had two biological children of their own close to the same age. When Gran found out they were foster parents, she made a point to thank them for what they were doing and then went to the dollar store that afternoon to buy each kid something small. I’ll never forget the look on the parent’s faces, but mostly I think I’ll always remember the look on Gran’s face that day. You would’ve thought she’d won the lottery; she was so happy.” I laughed.
“As I said, she was an amazing woman,” Tris insisted, wiping tears from her eyes. “She’s going to be missed.”
My throat pinched tight. “I know.”
Another knock sounded at the door, and this time when Nash answered it, the cabin filled with members of the clan. Their hugs and gentle touches not only comforted me, but they settled my bear, giving us the sense of family and support we needed.
The sense of home.
Epilogue
Grief looks different for everyone. For me, it was filled with nearly overwhelming amounts of sadness, laughter at old stories, cravings for the support of my clan, clinging to Nash, and exhaustion so deep it penetrated my bones, making them ache.
Grief for me also looked like not stepping foot inside Gran’s cabin in four weeks because the pain was too much.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Nash asked from where he stood, leaning against the doorframe of his master bedroom.
I’d spent the last four weeks at his cabin, avoiding Gran’s place like the plague. Now, I was ready to go back. I was ready to feel close to her again.
“Yeah,” I said as I tucked my hair behind my ear and then zipped up my suitcase. “I need to clear out some of her things, so there’s space for mine. The movers will be here in two days.”
I’d only made one trip back to Denton since Gran’s passing, and it was only to box up my things with Karen and Nash’s help and hire a moving company to ship everything from Denton to Gem Creek. The moving company had been a gift from Karen. I hadn’t turned her gift away. It saved me from having to rent a box truck, and I loved that she was so generous.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Nash asked.
I glanced at him, noticing when he rubbed the back of his neck. It was one of his telltale signs that he was nervous. We’d been inseparable since Gran’s passing. I knew he wanted to help me go through her things—to be there for me—but I felt like this was something I needed to do on my own.
“I’m sure,” I said in a soft tone. “I’ll call you if it gets to be too much.”
“Promise?” Nash asked.
“Promise.”
He nodded, even though I could tell from the way his jaw tensed that he wanted to press the issue. I hauled my suitcase off the bed and stacked it in the corner with the boxes we’d filled last night of Nash’s things.
I wanted to move back into Gran’s cabin, and he’d
