Page 103 of With Spite

“Katana…” I said softly. “Get the mastectomy that they recommended. Do the first round of treatment. Make sure that your baby is healthy. Then go from there.”

She looked at me, tears in her eyes. “You don’t know what it’s like to watch every woman in your family die of a disease, horribly, then find out you have it, too.”

“No,” I confirmed. “I don’t. But I’m not a quitter. And neither are you.”

She closed her eyes and a single tear slipped down her face. “If I get bad enough…” She looked at her cousins. “If I get bad enough, you’ll have to let me go. Don’t let me live like they let them live.”

Heavy boots slammed to the ground and then Shaw was there. “Everyone, get out.”

Everyone got out.

Katana burst into sobs.

Hux caught my arm and led me outside.

Luckily, he grabbed my—his—parka before we got out there.

Blankets emerged from trucks. A fire was started in the fire pit in the middle of the front yard.

Hux held on to me while sitting in the creakiest chair I’d ever experienced.

It was both bittersweet and one of the best nights of my life.

Six years ago, I would’ve never thought that this would be my life.

Six years ago, I was buried so deep in depression that I thought that I might never see the light again.

And six years ago, I couldn’t have prepared for a man like Hux.

But as I fell asleep in his arms, face snuggled under his chin and nose pressed against his throat, I knew that there was nowhere else in this world I’d rather be.

Twenty-Four

I love you in a way that would worry a therapist.

—Hux to Bernice

Hux

I’d just separated the shoulder joint from the rest of the elk’s torso when my phone pinged.

I glanced at it and grinned.

Thinking now was a great time for a break, I shucked my gloves, my apron, and my cap, then headed to the sink to wash my hands.

On the way out the door, I swiped up my phone and jogged quickly toward the back entrance to The Mercantile.

“Well, look who’s here.” My mother clapped. “Would you mind moving some boxes for me?”

I was already shaking my head. “No can do.”

“What?” my mother asked. “Then why are you here?”

“Because Bernice is meeting me for lunch,” I said. “She’s already here. Gotta go.”

By the time that I got to the front counter, Bernice had already started to order our lunch from Katana.

Katana, who looked a hell of a lot better today than when she’d left my place a week ago.