Tonight, I’m not Beckett.
I’m Shadow.
Chapter14
George
I spend the night at Havenridge Ranch.
Beckett has briefed Angus, who seems poised and alert. The man isn’t known for his conversational skills and creeps around with remarkable stealth, considering his size and height.
But there’s a comfort in spending the night at the ranch house. A sense of family I haven’t experienced since I lost Mom in a car wreck when I was twelve.
The pain of her absence is still sharp more than a decade later. Grief like that doesn’t soften—it burrows deeper and settles into the quiet spaces. But being here, surrounded by the low hum of voices, the aroma of coffee and aged pine, and the occasional grunt from Angus as he patrols the porch like a silent sentinel, soothes something in me I didn’t realize was raw.
Shay and Luna stay up with me for a while. Luna curls into one corner of the couch with a blanket and that wry glint in her eye that says she sees more than she lets on. Shay listens more than she talks tonight, pregnancy fatigue tugging at her eyelids. But her presence is steady, anchoring.
We talk about nothing and everything. The weather. The upcoming summer festival. Small-town nonsense, the kind of talk that used to drive me crazy. Now, I cling to it like it matters.
Because it does.
Because this borrowed belonging, this makeshift sisterhood, is more than I thought I deserved.
By the time I head to bed in the guest room, I feel both full and hollow. Missing my mother. Missing a version of myself who believed love was simple and forever. Wondering when I started letting someone like Beckett Lawson fill those fractured spaces.
And afraid of what it’ll do to me if I lose him, too.
* * *
The next morning, I wake before the sun rises and head to Clover Canyon Auto. Beckett's still gone, and I have a truck to fix for one of the Cutter brothers before noon.
I have work to do, but I’m careful. Angus knows where I am. And after Beckett's warning, I keep my phone on me like a lifeline.
As if my thoughts have summoned him, my phone rings, and Beckett’s name lights up the screen.
“Morning, my little Ewok. You doing okay?” he asks as soon as I answer.
I roll my eyes at his pet name, although itiskind of growing on me. “I’m good. Did you get what you needed?”
“Yep. I’m on my way back. Should be home in about an hour.”
Home? Is that how he thinks of Clover Canyon? My heart does a little skip.
“Good. I’m at Clover Canyon Auto. Had to get Caleb Cutter’s truck finished.”
I hear Beckett’s heavy sigh. “I don’t want you alone, George.”
I can almost picture his glower, and I’m eager to know why he’s so worried about my safety. What did he discover that had him leaving so suddenly?
“Don’t worry. Angus knows where I am. And you’ll be here soon. I’ll have a mug of coffee waiting for you, just how you like it. Strong enough that the spoon stands up in it.”
Beckett groans like I’ve offered him manna from heaven. “You don’t know how good that sounds right now. It’s been a long night.”
I smile. “See you soon, then.”
“Okay. I’ll call your father. Ask him to meet us at the shop. He needs to be there to see what I’ve found.”
“That sounds… ominous.”
