A low growl echoed outside, the door handle turned, and Bridger poked his head inside. “Someone’s here to see you two,” he said with a mischievous grin. He opened the door wide and Shash, fur dusty and tangled with twigs, slunk inside.
“Shash!” I fell to my knees and clapped my hands, and he trotted across the floor, putting his massive front paws on my shoulders and licking my face until I toppled backward.
“Can I come in now?” Mr. Petersen asked from the doorway.
“Come in, son,” Mrs. Carpenter said. At the sound of her voice Shash climbed off me, put his nose on the side of her bed, and whined. “You miserable mutt,” Mrs. Carpenter said with a smile. “You’re filthy! And I can’t vacuum!”
“Maggie, come outside with me for a few minutes,” Bridger said, helping me to my feet. I followed him out the front door. “Will you help me rebuild the ring of protection before it gets too dark?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Why didn’t my ring of protection work?”
“Are you Navajo?” Bridger asked. I shook my head. “Did you bless it after you made it?” I shook my head again. “Did you use sage and an eagle feather to strengthen it?”
“All right, I get it,” I said. “I don’t have the magic touch.”
“Exactly.”
“Mrs. Carpenter won’t need the ring of protection anymore,” I said quietly, stepping off the porch.
“She won’t?” Bridger asked, surprised.
“Not because of me, at least. There’s no way I’ll put her in danger again. I’m moving out.” I took Bridger’s hand and we walked toward the back of the house where the skulls had been piled. A warm breeze blew, stirring the boughs of a crooked pine and blowing my hair away from my face.
Bridger pulled me to a stop. “You’re moving?” he asked, slipping his hands around to the small of my back and looking at me with curious eyes. “Won’t Mrs. Carpenter need you around to help her out?”
I shook my head. “When I talked to Mrs. Carpenter this morning, she told me her granddaughter is moving into the upstairs bedroom to take care of her. Her granddaughter’s a nurse. It’s time for me to move on.”
“Where are you going to go?” he asked. I could hear the real question in the concerned tone of his voice.
“Don’t worry—I’m actually moving closer to you,” I explained. “Naalyehe has a studio apartment above the restaurant. He says he’ll give me a good price on rent if I want to fix it up a bit—paint the walls and clean it up and stuff. I gave him a deposit during my shift today. I can move in tomorrow. If …” I put my hands behind Bridger’s neck and ran my fingers through his hair.
His eyes narrowed. “If what?” he asked suspiciously.
I shrugged. “If someone with a car can help me move my stuff?”
He frowned and shook his head. “Too bad I own an SUV and not a car. Otherwise I’d have been just the guy for the job.”
I laughed and shoved him, but his hands tightened on the small of my back and pulled me closer. He rested his forehead on mine. “You’ve got to get over this inability to ask people for help,” he whispered, his nose bumping mine. I closed my eyes and brushed my lips over his, inhaling his exhaled air. He sighed, his body melting into me, his heart drumming against mine.
“Bridger, will you help me?” I whispered against his mouth, opening my eyes.
He took a deep breath and, without opening his eyes, nodded. “Always and forever. Whatever you need, I’ll be here.” His lips started moving against mine, gently insistent, making my brain swirl and my heart explode. I smiled against his mouth and kissed him, adjusting my body to line up with his like we were constructed for each other, two halves of a bigger whole.
I closed my eyes, and in that instant, my world seemed to shift, as if all the screwed-up crap I’d gone through over the past years clicked into place, locking together to form a bigger picture than I’d ever seen before—me, right here, right now. Every day, every minute, leading to this moment, bringing me to this point in time where everything was all right.
This place where I’d never be alone again.