Page 114 of Rangers Mountain Rescue
45
Aspen
The Last Stand Tavern feels… different at night.
Warmer.
Safer.
But still not home.
Rylie covers Grandpa with a blanket on the couch, upstirs.
Dylan sits cross-legged on the floor.
Buddy pressed against his side like he’s guarding him from the world.
The Rangers move quietly around us.
Beast at the door.
Saint near the back.
Trigger never far.
No one says it.
But we all feel it.
The danger didn’t stay at the farm.
It followed us here.
I sit at the tables.
Hands wrapped around a mug of coffee I’m not drinking.
Rylie slides into the chair across from me.
“You did good tonight,” she says gently.
I shake my head.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You stayed calm,” she replies.
“That’s everything.”
I look down at my hands.
They’re still shaking.
“I thought…” I stop.
Swallow hard.
“I thought we were going to die. I never want this kind of stuff around my child.”
Rylie doesn’t try to fix it.
Doesn’t brush it off.
She just nods.
“I know.”
And somehow…
That helps more than anything else.
