Page 208 of Ranger's Wildflower
Awareness.
The kind that never really leaves once you’ve learned it.
“We go in, we assess, we don’t split,” Ace says. “You stay with me.”
“I will.”
No argument this time.
Because I understand now.
This isn’t control.
This is survival.
The town looks the same.
That’s the strange part.
People walking.
Cars passing.
Someone laughing outside the café.
Like nothing has changed.
But everything has.
We park just down the street from my shop.
My chest tightens when I see it.
The sign.
The windows.
The little display I left behind.
Flowers arranged just the way I always do them.
Careful.
Balanced.
Alive.
“I haven’t been back since…” I trail off.
Ace nods once. “We go together.”
Always.
Together.
Ace
I scanthe street before we even move.
