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I don’t say anything as I push away from the table, rising from the chair and turning to the kitchenette behind me as I start up the coffeepot. I stare at it for a few more seconds until it starts to sputter with steaming liquid, finally turning my face to cast her a long look.

“How do you take your coffee?”

My banal question has an immediate effect, her pink lips forming an indignant pout and her copper brows pulling together. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? How do I take my coffee?”

“Aye,” I answer, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back against the counter. “For the moment.”

“Are you purposely trying to infuriate me?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m trying to caffeinate you. You’ll need it.”

“I’ll need it,” she echoes, her eyes turning a wee bit suspicious. “And why is that?”

I turn to reach for two mugs from the cabinet, giving her my back as I let out another weary sigh, coming to terms with the fact that, for better or worse, it seems I now have a tentative ally. The last one I ever expected.

“Because I have something to show you.”

13

Keyanna

“Can you just tell me where we’re going?”

“It’s not much further,” Lachlan tosses over his shoulder.

I push another branch out of the way, trying to follow Lachlan’s broad back. His red flannel is a beacon in the sea of green branches we’ve been maneuvering through for the last half hour, and at this rate, I’m starting to wonder if this is another Loch Land situation. Or maybe something even more nefarious.

“You’re not leading me into the woods to kill me, are you?”

I don’t see him roll his eyes, but I can feel it. “Lot cleaner ways to get you out of the picture if I wanted to, lass.”

“Well,that’scomforting.”

“I have a feeling you’d be just annoying enough to haunt me anyway,” he answers with a chuffed laugh.

“Absolutely I would,” I assure him. “I’d be singing at you every night while you tried to sleep.”

“Aye, that would definitely be terrifying.”

I scoff. “It’s notthatbad.”

“About as lovely sounding as Bethie was when she had her last calf,” he chuckles.

Now I rollmyeyes. “Seriously, will you just tell me where we’re—oof.”

I come to halt as I collide with his wide frame, my hands slamming into his back and my cheek squishing between his shoulder blades. I shove myself away as I start sputtering, but then I notice where we are. The ground is covered with dried leaves, the entire area shaded beneath the canopy of trees as filtered light streams down through the foliage. The rows of granite and stone are weathered with age, and I step around Lachlan, cocking a brow up at him as I cross my arms over my chest.

“Well, this is…ominous.”

He’s brought me to what looks to be a massive graveyard, and I frown at the worn headstones that span as far back into the trees as my eyes can see. I’ve never liked cemeteries, not that I imagine anyone justlovesthem—but something about the idea of bones beneath my feet leaves me unsettled. It makes me grateful that my dad wanted to be cremated. I could never quite come to terms with the idea of burying him in the dirt.

“Our family is buried here,” Lachlan tells me.

“Ourfamily?”

“Aye, yours and mine.” He points to the rows that creep to the east. “See that fence there? The one going right through the rows of graves?”

“Yes.”