“But you will be at my wedding this fall.”
“When is it again?”
“For the love—the weekend of September 20. I’ll text you. Again.”
Liam laughed. “Hey. I’ll be there. I have best-man duties.” He hoped that by then, three and a half months away, he would have fixed whatever had shattered inside him. “But chances of seeing you before then are slim.”
“Actually, I have an author event at the end of the month in Las Vegas. Luke is going with me. How far are you from there?”
“Four, five hours.”
“That’s farther than I thought. But maybe you could drive over for a day to hang with us.”
“That might work. Make a weekend of it.” Liam forced enthusiasm into his tone, though his chest tightened at the thought. Hedidwant to see his brothers, but all it would take was one look for Logan to know Liam was broken. Empty.
People here didn’t know the Liam from before, so they didn’t recognize he was a shell of himself. But his twin would.
Liam reached the lodge’s entrance. Through the windows, warm light spilled out, promising coffee and conversation with colleagues who saw him as the hero from the morning’s headlines.
He’d chosen a job over a thousand miles away to keep his family at arm’s length. Because as much as they loved him, they’d want to fix him, and Liam wasn’t sure he was fixable. He couldn’t forgive himself, and he wasn’t sure he could let go of the fact that God had let it happen either.
So, there was that. Maybe five and a half months wasn’t long enough. Not even close.
“I have to go, but yeah, resend me the dates.” Liam pulled open one of the lodge’s heavy wooden doors. He ended the call, slipping the phone into his pocket as he stepped into the dining hall, the buzz of voices and clatter of plates filling the space.
He flashed his ID at the check-in desk, then made his way to the buffet, the smell of eggs and bacon filling the air. Liam grabbed a breakfast burrito and orange juice, then claimed a spot at a table with other staff members. Teague was there, already halfway through a stack of pancakes, his plate drowning in syrup. The group was a mix of familiar faces—rangers, maintenance crew, a few interpretive guides—all bonded by the shared experience of living and working in one of the most remote parts of the park.
“Morning, hero.” His director, Noah Wilde, tossed a newspaper onto the table in front of Liam. The headline blazed in bold black letters: “Local Ranger Rescues Girl from Cliff in Grand Canyon.” Above the article was a huge photograph of him in climbing gear with Kristen wrapped around his neck like a cape as they cleared the edge. Who knew where they’d gotten the photo.
And of course, in the caption, Kristen had called him Superman.
Noah laughed, his voice full of teasing. “You’re going to have all the female population faking injuries if they think they have a chance to be rescued by you.”
Liam cringed. “I doubt anyone young enough to try that even knows what a newspaper is.”
“Don’t worry.” Noah dropped a hand on his arm. “It’s online. There’s probably memes and reels circulating.”
He wasn’t a stranger to female attention and usually rolled with it. But the last time he’d asked a girl out, he’d crashed and burned. That hadn’t bugged him as much as what she’d said.I can tell you’re searching for something right now, but I’m not it. Deep down I think you know that.He’d dismissed it at the time, but the words seemed to cling to his mind on repeat. Maybe because as a longtime friend, she knew Liam better than most.
Eden motioned to Noah. Her long blonde ponytail swayed as she spoke. “Someone reported a bus parked near the rim yesterday. They said it was uncomfortably close to the edge. I told them I’d pass the word to the backcountry rangers, but all they could tell me was that it was west of the park.”
A soft chuckle rippled through the group at the table. Most visitors had no grasp of the Grand Canyon rim’s scale—how its jagged, winding expanse stretched for miles, far beyond what anyone could imagine from a simple map. “West of the park” was about as helpful as pointing at the sky and saying “up.”
Liam’s thoughts drifted to the bus he’d glimpsed during the rescue yesterday, the memory snapping into focus. It had almost looked like a city bus painted in faded mint green and browns.
“I think I know where it might be.” Liam downed the rest of his burrito, then looked at Noah. “You good with me checking it out?”
“Sure. Just keep your radio on.”
He nodded and pushed away from the table as another memory tugged at his mind—a faint glint in a nearby tree, like the reflection of a camera lens. Like wilderness surveillance equipment. But to his knowledge, the park service wasn’tmonitoring that area. So why would a family in a beat-up old bus have high-end surveillance equipment? The idea seemed absurd, but it gnawed at him.
He might not know how to fix himself, but he could do his job. He could ensure that that family wasn’t being careless, that they were safe from the canyon’s unforgiving edge.
He could attempt to be the hero everyone called him.
For now, that would have to be enough.
Get in, get out. Today wasn’t a high-target mission—all she had to do was collect her Amazon package. Nimue’s fingers traced the edge of the laptop as she stared out the window of her relocated camper bus, now tucked five miles north of her last position in a grove of gnarled pinyon pines. The move had been quick, efficient—the bus’s dusty frame blending into the trees like it belonged there.