“Go.” He gestured to me. “Maybe we’ll stay an extra day.”
Nate slowly sat back in his chair and tipped it on its rear legs. “You’re okay with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. Caldron, for one. You won’t want backup?”
“Caldron’s the least of our problems now. He’s going to be charged in the assault against us, and also for attempted battery against Sam.”
“Quinn then.”
“I can’t know for sure…” Mason’s eyes flickered to mine briefly. “But I have a feeling Quinn’s got his own troubles going right now.” Nate didn’t know Becky had broken it off with Adam.
“All the more reason for you to come with us.” Nate stood up. “Come on, Mason. Let’s all go back to Cain. We had problems one year, but we don’t get into trouble there anymore. Our biggest problem is Taylor’s friends now, and those guys are tame compared to what we usually deal with.”
“A crime boss was tame?”
“That was a one-time thing. You know it.” Nate switched to me. “Sam, what are you thinking? You have to want to head back to Cain, too. Analise is just down the road, and she won’t have a wedding to plan any more. She’s going to have a lot of free time now.”
“Actually,” I cleared my throat, looking at Mason, “she’s doing what you suggested.”
“Really?”
“What?” Nate looked between the two of us. “What’s going on?”
“Analise is letting me go.”
“So you did talk to her.”
“I never said I didn’t,” I noted, quietly.
He didn’t call me out. “What else did she say?”
“She and your dad are going to move. We can have the house.”
Nate’s eyes widened. “What? For real?” A grin spread over his face. “Man, all those memories from that house.” He turned to Mason. “Let’s stay for a week and throw a massive party next weekend. One more big bash before we all head back. Logan would be down for that.”
“Down for what?” Logan and Taylor joined us, leaving their bags in the living room.
“Sam just said your parents are moving. We get the house,” Nate announced. “One last big rager. How about it?”
Taylor’s eyes widened, and she seemed to pull into herself.
“Oh. Can you stay till then?” Nate asked.
“Well…” She looked at Logan. “I have to go back now. Do you—”
He shook his head. “No. I’m going where you go. If you can stay, I’ll stay. If you want to go back, I’ll go there, too. It’s your call.”
She bit her lip, obviously torn as she looked around the kitchen. “I’m sorry, guys. I really need to go back. Jason was hurt bad. I don’t want him to—”
Mason stood up, cutting her off with a wave. “Then you go. It’s decided.”
“I’m really sorry.”
Logan reached for her hand and pulled her against his side. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I know, but I’m pulling you away from your family.”
Nate laughed, pointing to Mason and me. “Uh, do you not know us? We’re all family. If something affects you, it affects all of us.”
Taylor still looked torn, but Logan lifted his arm to her shoulder. “She knows, and she’ll get over her guilt. So…” He nodded to the rest of us. “Party at the house this weekend? The one in Cain?”
Mason nodded, then gestured to Nate. “Do me a favor, Logan?”
“Anything.”
“Take him with you.”
Nate twisted back around. “What? Mason—”
“I don’t want to hear it. You’re going. Sam and I will be behind you.” His gaze came to me. “I’d like to spend some alone time with my girlfriend.”
“Then it’s all planned. Nate and I will go back with Taylor. We’ll take care of the fuckers who fucked with Taylor’s friend, and then we’ll all celebrate this weekend. Your training starts next Monday. I’m sure all the guys will want to let loose this weekend anyway.”
And with that, the plan was set in motion.
Logan, Nate, and Taylor left that day.
Mason and I spent the rest of the evening in bed, holding each other and enjoying our first alone time all summer.
We stayed a few more days and the rest of the week passed quickly. I went to the carnival to thank Petey and Keifer for sharing the surveillance video. Both told me not to hesitate to reach out again, and Petey reminded me with a wink not to sell carnies short. I tucked that information away and gave each of them a hug. I didn’t know when I’d be seeing them again.
After that I spent my days with Malinda, Mark, or Heather. I tried to get as much time in as I could with each of them. David, too. He’d been around all summer, but we hadn’t spent a lot of one-on-one time.
I knew he was busy planning for football, and on our last night in Fallen Crest, I realized I’d taken him for granted. I expressed that to him on the porch, after we’d just finished a family dinner.
“No, Sam.” He shook his head, relaxing beside me on the bench. “I’m always here. You know that. You never have to worry about putting in your time with me. If you want to see me, I’m here. If you’ve got other people to see, I’m still here.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“No problem. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Malinda came out to the porch then, her face flooded with tears, and I rose. Her goodbye seemed to last longer than normal, and we were only going back to college. We weren’t moving across the country. I knew Malinda would be up for parents’ weekend, too. She came every year.
“I’m just going to miss you two so much.” She hugged me, then Mason. “And you. It’s your last year. I can’t believe it. You guys are growing up too fast.” Mark stepped through the door behind them, and she added, “You, too. Stop growing up. I don’t like it.”
“I’ll get right on that, Mom. No problem.”
“Oh, and Sam, too.” She turned to me, the dam breaking and tears wetting her entire face again.
More hugs. More goodbyes. More laughter until finally, Mason took my hand and began walking across the yard.
Mark waved, then we heard, “Mom, you know you can’t stop them from going, right?” They headed back inside.
The screen door closed, but we could hear Malinda say, “I can try. I’m going to do the same with you, so don’t get any ideas. You know long, drawn-out goodbyes are essential with me.”
Mark groaned, but David waved, a kind and loving smile on his face as he saw me looking back, and then he closed the inside door.
Mason tightened his hold on my hand. “Come on. I want to take you somewhere.”
“What?”
We crossed the street to Helen’s house and went inside. “Dress in something warm,” he told me. “It could get cold tonight.”
Tonight?
It was nearing dark. But we were going to be outside somewhere. “What do you have planned?”
He grinned, and my heart skipped a beat. “Just get dressed, okay?”
I melted, like I always did with him.
“Okay.”
It had grown nearly dark as we made the trek up the hill, and there were a few spots where I worried Mason’s Escalade wouldn’t fit. The driving path kept getting narrower and narrower, but as he took the last curve, I saw where we were. Mason had taken me high up in the hills, back to the spot where he’d come to get me after I’d been running.
“Mason?” I just sat there, holding his hand. I could just barely see the path I’d come from that day, and I remembered that his vehicle had been parked right here.
“Stay here a minute,” he told me.
He got out of the Escalade and disappeared behind it for a moment. I turned around, but I couldn’t see what he was doing. Then a little light started to appear, and it grew until the entire forest and path were illuminated against the night,