Page 13 of One Merciful Moment

His back muscles twitched under his shirt. She blew out her cheeks. What was she supposed to do with that information?

Now she was going to think about him, and she'd tried hard to ignore how fit he was and how his tanned arms bulged whenever he lifted something.

The other men walked toward the restaurant. She waited for Boone and then walked with him. There was nothing to say, because nothing could happen between them. She was going home soon.

Behind the restaurant in the gravel lot, Levi built a fire. Smoke curled upward into the unmoving sky. Ashley sat beside Boone on an old slab of curb near the back wall.

She slid her hands under her thighs and leaned forward, watching Levi fill a dented metal pot with ears of corn Mace had shucked. The kernels were bright and juicy.

The smell drifted across the lot. Her stomach growled. It was silly to get excited about something they ate almost every night.

It was the first time she'd seen everyone who lived in Everstill in one place. Fourteen people, counting her.

"Has there always been so few people living here?" she asked.

"It was only the men until the women showed up." Boone looked around. "I've been here a long time."

"How long?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea. Time doesn't really matter here."

She swallowed. "How old are you?"

"Around...thirty-five." He shrugged. "I guess."

"You're ten years older than me."

"I suppose I am," he muttered.

She looked away from him and distracted herself with the others.

Jillian leaned against Moe's shoulder, smiling. Kallie stood beside Finn, holding his hand. Copper watched everything with a quiet pride that softened the lines of his face.

Mace and Wade helped Levi with the corn. Vaughn, Rex, and Nolan stood on the other side of the fire.

It wasn't a party, but the mood was lighter than any other time she'd been around the men.

Levi handed out corn on the cob on plates from the restaurant, steam rising from the pot as he lifted each ear with battered tongs.

Ashley blew on the cob, then bit into hers, the sweetness bursting across her tongue. She closed her eyes. The taste reminded her of home.

"Good?" Boone asked.

She opened her eyes and smiled. "Really good."

It felt like life. Like possibility. Like Everstill was surviving.

Everyone ate until their stomachs were full. Moe and Jillian gravitated toward them, along with Finn and Kallie. They all spoke about how much Ashley was helping the garden.

"I enjoy it." She put her finished cob on the plate. "Back home, I have almost the same size acreage that I work myself."

"Do you sell the vegetables you grow?" Kallie asked.

She let Boone take her plate. "I do. I have a few fruit trees too, but I really work with herbs. In the winter, I dry everything and make the tinctures myself."

"That's amazing." Jillian looked at Moe. "Can we do that here?"

"No one gets sick in Everstill." Finn frowned. "At least they didn't when we had food and electricity."