IN the cool of the evening, Maddie slid closer to Cole on the porch swing they shared and held him close.
“I’m done,” he said.
“You’ve said that before and every time you’ve—”
“No,” he said emphatically, “this is it. No more.” He stretched out his hands and they were shaking. “You see that? Never, in all the years have I experienced this. “
NoShe pressed her face into his chest. “You mean I get to keep you here all to myself, every day?”
“Every minute,” and he kissed the top of her head. “Out there, in the middle of all that killing, the thought of leaving you … It was too much, Maddie. It’s time to give it up, for good.”
She breathed heavily and snuggled even closer. He could not see her smile, but he could feel it and he knew it was all good.
They sat like that for some considerab
