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H onor St. James puffed out a small sigh as she stared through the mesh of the screen door. Her Volkswagen van sat in the driveway outside her rental unit, packed to the ceiling with everything she owned.

Through the screen door she heard the laughter of neighborhood kids as they raced to catch the ice cream truck. In the distance came a tap of a hammer as somebody fixed up their home, and the breeze fluttered the festive summer holiday banners that decorated nearly every house on the street.

Summer was in full swing. Everything was moving forward. Just like she was.

Pushing her fingers through her loose waves, she gripped her phone tight and dialed her sister. The instant she answered, Honor didn’t even say hello. She just burst with her news.

“It’s all packed, Felicity.”

A couple strolled by, talking and laughing together, hands linked, a reminder of what was the end for Honor. She watched them progress down the sidewalk of the familiar town she had no plans to return to after she climbed behind the wheel of her van and drove away.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Felicity responded. “I mean, I can. But…are you sure you don’t want to just leave him a note?”

Honor shook her head even though her sister couldn’t see her. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving without saying something to him. Closure is important…for both of us.”

Six years. She’d put six years of her life into her relationship with Sully.

“Are you prepared for when he tries to talk you out of it?”

Her sister didn’t really know how far she and Sully had grown apart if she thought he would try to talk her out of leaving.

“My mind is made up. I won’t change it.”

Above the tapping of the hammer and the laughter of the kids came the rumble of an engine, low and familiar. Her heart hitched, then settled with determination.

“He’s here.” Her voice didn’t even waver at what she was about to do. “I’ll call you from the road.”

She ended the call with Felicity and walked outside to meet Sully for the last time. In purposeful strides, she reached the door of her van.

She may have sounded strong, but she didn’t totally trust herself not to cave. If she had the van door within reach, she could grasp it like a lifeline and jump behind the wheel.

Sully parked in his usual spot on the street. As Honor studied the luxury van he’d purchased a few months back, she couldn’t help but wonder how things got to this point. Even their choice in vans was completely different—his sleek Mercedes looked like a successful businessman’s, whereas hers looked like…well, her.

When he climbed out, her heart stuttered again with nerves. This would be an easy break, she reminded herself. Sully wasn’t one to explode. Never had been. In fact, his easygoing nature was one trait that made Honor fall in love with him.

That love had faded a lot over the past year, and now…there was nothing left but the open road between here and Willowbrook, Wyoming.

As Sully spotted her standing by her van, he slapped a smile on his face. The one she had grown to think of as fake.

She was really doing this.

She steeled herself.

“Hey, babe. You going to grab us some takeout for dinner?”

She shook her head. “No, Sully. I’m leaving.” She met his brown eyes. At one time, she would have used five different poetic words to describe the shades of brown, but now she didn’t see love sparkling in them.

He crowded closer to her, looking past her to the van stuffed with her belongings. Her entire wardrobe, camping gear, bedding and anything else that was important to her, not to mention the basis of her small business—crates and boxes jam-packed with all her jewelry-making supplies.

Sully stiffened. His gaze slid to her. “When you say you’re leaving—”

“I’m not coming back. What was between us has been over for a long time, Sully.”

He wrapped his hand around her elbow. “Don’t do this, Honor. Don’t do this to us. Don’t walk away from what we built.”

She was glad that door handle was within reach. She caught hold of it and clung to the metal like that lifeline she’d anticipated she may need. “I’m sorry, Sully. This is for the best for both of us.”

He shook his head, the brown mop of controlled curls swaying. “What we have is special. You won’t find this with anyone else.”

His words grew hooks and tried to dig into her.

“We’ve been through so much together. Don’t throw everything away now, babe.” He reached for her again, but she stepped away.

“I’m not your babe, Sully. Not anymore.”

What he heard in her voice made his spine stiffen. He barked a laugh of disbelief. “You’re really doing this.”

But something about the sound made her disbelieve the truth behind the statement. He sounded like he didn’t even put his whole heart into trying to keep her.

His brown stare latched on to hers, any spark of feelings gone. “When are you leaving?”

“Tonight.”

“So you’ll come back for the rest of your things.”

She realized he couldn’t see everything in the van. The cute little daisy-patterned curtains she sewed and hung herself concealed her belongings.

“No. It’s all in the van. I’m leaving now.”

The expression in his eyes shifted again, turning stony. “You’re joking.” He stepped back and threw his hands in the air. “Why did you even wait for me to come home? Why didn’t you just drive off into the sunset to begin your new life?”

This was getting ugly quick.

“I wanted to say goodbye. It’s the right thing to do.” She took in his appearance for a beat longer. “Goodbye, Sully. Take care of yourself.”

She yanked open the door and jumped in the van. When she started the engine, he didn’t try to stop her. As she drove down the street, past the houses with Memorial Day banners flapping in the breeze and the kids gripping ice creams that dripped down their hands, Honor felt…

Good.

Great , in fact.

She grabbed her phone and called Felicity. Her sister picked up on the first ring.

“It’s over. I’m on the road now. ETA is four and half hours.”

“You okay, sis?”

An upbeat song came on the radio, and she turned it up to blast through the speakers. The wind from her open window teased her loose hair and danced across her skin.

She was free.

“No sad breakup songs for me!”

“Oh yeah! That’s my girl!” She could almost see her sister dancing around her bookstore in the small mountain town of Willowbrook where Honor was headed.

The driving beat of the summer song blasted through the van. Ahead of her, the sky was wide and blue, the sun paving the road in gold. She was ready to embrace her new life, starting now.

A new beginning. A fresh start.

Not a single regret in her rearview mirror.

* * * * *

Gray Malone rolled his tense shoulders and drew a deep breath of the mountain air. The spring notes of damp earth were fading under the heat of early summer. Under the tang of grass lingered the stark odor of wood ash from the bonfire the previous night.

This meet-and-greet he was waiting around for was supposed to happen at the fire, but Gray hadn’t gone near it. Most people might think he preferred the quiet. They’d be wrong. The noise from his siblings, their significant others and any of the military veterans who came to the Black Heart Ranch to heal from their traumas, he could handle.

It was too many memories clawing at the edges of his mind that made him avoid the bonfires. All too well, he knew how that flickering firelight translated in his own scarred mind into dark, painful memories. The smoke in his lungs and the laughter twisted into something else.

No thanks—he would meet Crew Diaz, the newcomer to the therapy program, on his own terms in a location where he could easily slide his mask into place and keep it from slipping.

He stretched his neck and ran his finger along the familiar dry wood of the fence rail where he waited for Crew to meet him.

When a horse whickered, he knew the animal sensed a new guest before Gray ever saw him. He fixed his face into something approachable and pretended he had his shit together. By the time Crew rounded the corner of the barn, Gray didn’t have a crack in sight. Hidden from view? That was a different thing.

The man coming toward him moved with an inherent wariness he’d noted most of the vets possessed. Day one of the Black Heart Ranch’s therapy program wasn’t easy to face…but it was better than the days the vets left behind them.

Crew wore a pair of jeans, loose on his frame as if he’d once filled them out better but had lost weight, and a plain T-shirt. The ball cap he wore was tugged low over his eyes, but the long ends of his hair curled under the sides.

Gray nodded in greeting and pushed off the fence to meet him. “Crew.”

“Hey. You Gray?”

“That’s me.”

“Your sister told me to look for the mean-lookin’ guy wearing a cowboy hat. I passed at least two others on the walk out here.”

Gray chuckled. He liked the guy already. Even though they hadn’t served with each other, they understood each other in the way vets often did.

He tipped his head toward the big house. “Coffee? It’s hot.”

He scuffed his worn leather boot in the dust at their feet. “Had some at breakfast. Better than coffee in the barracks.”

“Low standards.”

They eyed each other without looking directly at the other. Gray wondered if Crew noted the similarities between them—different battlefield, different losses. Same damn ghosts.

With a gesture to the paddock fence, Gray led the newcomer to the rail. Two of his sister’s horses were already dozing in the morning sun. Crew sidled up beside him and rested his forearms on the fence, seeming at ease, but he knew it was all a show.

“Where did you serve?” He figured getting straight to the point was the best practice.

“Pensacola.” His fingers tightened on the rail.

Gray’s jaw flexed, and he issued a hot breath of air through his nostrils. He didn’t need to ask more. He knew by the flicker in Crew’s dark eyes what happened there—the very event that made Crew check himself in to the therapy program.

Silence stretched between them, full of words unspoken but not completely uncomfortable. They were brothers in a way, as much as Gray was with his own siblings. Though his family members served in the military as well, they each had their own pain points.

Crew ducked his head. “Lost my co-pilot. Exercise went bad. Simple as that.”

Only Gray knew it was far from simple. Nothing about losses like that were.

His own crushing sense of responsibility, of failure, washed over him. He focused on his surroundings to disconnect from that time in his life. Concentrated on the warm sun heating his shoulders through his shirt. On the soft spice of hay and the breeze ruffling the short grass springing up around the fence posts.

What the hell was there to say to Crew’s statement? A loss like that wasn’t a heroic last stand. It was a mistake, a miscalculation.

“I’m sorry,” he said at last. He didn’t add his own trauma. Even though Crew would understand, he couldn’t burden anybody by speaking of it.

Crew dipped his head in a nod of acknowledgement. “And you?”

Gray felt his lips clamp together, but he couldn’t deny the vet this information. “USS Valor Heights .”

Crew didn’t even blink at the name of the aircraft carrier he’d served on for years.

They traded a look, then a nod. No more words were necessary. They knew each other’s trauma…to an extent.

“Nice place you got here,” Crew said.

“Gets the job done.” Actually, the Black Heart served many purposes for the people who lived on it. The ranch was different things to different people.

His little sister Willow lived for her horses and ran the house like a drill sergeant, whipping all of the Malones into shape whether they liked it or not. Even Gray found himself doing small tasks just to keep her from nagging at him. Just this morning, he had placed his dirty coffee mug into the dishwasher so Willow didn’t have to do it.

His oldest brother Carson founded the Black Heart Security company, and the office was always busy with phone calls and new contracts with clients. The therapy program for vets was Oaks’s brainchild. And Colt…well, he bounced between all of these things but hadn’t yet found a place to land. He would in time, Gray knew, and was happier than Gray had ever seen his brother.

The youngest of the Malone siblings, Denver and Theo, were still deep in the trenches, off fighting wars and protecting those who couldn’t defend themselves. Noble things, but Gray couldn’t help but wonder when they’d return to Wyoming with their own ghosts to shoulder.

Crew didn’t speak, and Gray didn’t need him to. They stood at the rail, side by side, watching the horses dozing, their glossy hides gleaming in the sun.

“I came here on my own,” Crew said at last. “No one forced me. Just couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

“I get it.” He looked away at the sprawling fields and mountains in the distance. “Takes guts, man.”

He huffed a quiet laugh. “Took hitting rock bottom.”

Gray nodded. He knew that place. Too damn well.

For long minutes, they stood there, letting the silence do what words couldn’t. Gray wasn’t a man for talking about his own problems, and he wasn’t about to pressure another guy to spill his guts to him. But this? This he could do. Stand in the quiet and let someone else’s pain settle between them, to let them know they weren’t alone.

Eventually, he pushed off the railing. “C’mon. I’ll show you around.”

Crew nodded. “Lead the way.”

And just like that, it was another step forward. For both of them.