Page 10 of One Merciful Moment

She exchanged a polite smile, and then the conversation dipped into a quiet lull, leaving her anxious. "I don't... belong here. I'm just waiting until I can go back home."

Kallie's expression softened. "We get it. We're not from Everstill either."

Jillian nodded, her voice gentler. "I have a mom on the other side."

"I have a business." Ashley's breath caught. "Herbal Apothecary & Garden. If my plants die, I won't have money to support myself. I need to get back."

Jillian stepped closer and shook her head. "You don't have to worry about that. Your gardens won't die."

"They will if I'm not there. My herbs need to be cut back if they're going to come up next season. I was right in the middle of preparing for fall when I got in an accident and found myself here."

"What she's trying to explain is time doesn't move on the other side of the veil while you're here," Kallie said.

Ashley stared, unsure she'd heard correctly. "What do you mean?"

"Time freezes." Jillian nodded. "Everything stays exactly how you left it. People don't age. Plants don't wilt. Nothing... and I mean nothing changes. I had a banana on the counter at home. When I returned weeks later, it was the same ripeness. Not a single brown spot."

Kallie folded her arms. "When you go back, it'll be the same day you left. The same hour. The same minute."

Her heartbeat slowed, then sped up again. Relief washed through her, warm and dizzying. But confusion followed. She wouldn't say they were lying—but they had to be lying.

"How is that possible?" she whispered.

Kallie and Jillian exchanged a look. Ashley swallowed hard.

"It's just how Everstill works," Jillian said. "We don't know why."

Ashley looked down at the soil clinging to her fingers. The cardboard boxes. The rows of vegetables. The unmoving sky.

She was grateful her life outside wasn't collapsing without her. She had to believe it was true.

But their explanation only made Everstill feel stranger. More impossible.

More like a place that shouldn't exist at all.

Kallie gave her an encouraging smile. "Everything's going to be okay. I know it doesn't feel like it now, but it will."

"And if you ever need anything, you come find us." Jillian smiled. "We're the only women here. We have to stick together."

Ashley slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "Why aren't there more women?"

"I have no idea. All we really know is I could cross the veil since I was young, and I kept coming back to see Finn. I was the first female to cross the veil into Everstill."

"I haven't been here long. Moe stole me from the other side and brought me here." Jillian shrugged when Ashley gasped. "It's not as dramatic as it sounds." She laughed. "Okay, it is. But, he didn't hurt me. He just... used me to get back here. And then we fell in love."

Jillian's smile showed a confident woman with no regrets. She appeared to have settled in Everstill because Moe was here.

Kallie tilted her head. "Maybe you're meant to fall in love with Boone."

"No. Absolutely not." Her answer was immediate, but her stomach rolled the moment she said it.

She glanced toward the road and found Boone walking toward her, carrying a bucket of water. His broad shoulders gave nothing away. Seeing him eased her anxiety, and she breathed a little easier.

She always felt better when he was around.

She wasn't ready to accept Everstill and all its unexplained differences. She wasn't ready to accept Boone in her life. She wasn't ready to accept any of this. All she wanted was to go home.

Chapter 7