Page 139 of Made for Mayhem

I accept my life ended sooner than I wanted.

I accept I didn’t get all the years I dreamed of with my daughter.

But I also accept that she is safe with you. That you are exactly who she needs.

Like the dandelions in the field outside, we’ve always been the girls who grow back even after the fire. Stronger. Brighter. Stubborn as hell.

The Winslow girls always rise.

To the moon,

V

I stared down at Violet’s letter, her words humming through my chest like one last hug. The storm pressed hard against the windows, rain lashing sideways, thunder crawling across the mountains like a warning.

Before I could breathe, the bedroom door flew open.

“Is she in here?” Ty yelled.

I jolted, clutching the letter to my chest. “Who?”

“Junie,” he said, breath sharp, eyes wild. His shirt was soaked, rain dripping down his hair, his jaw tight in a way I’d never seen. “She’s not in her room.”

My stomach plummeted. “What do you mean she’s not in her room? She went in there when we got back. I thought she⁠—”

“She’s not there now.” His voice broke on the last word. “The window—Daisy, the window’s still open and she—she’s not⁠—”

I jumped to my feet, Violet’s letter falling to the floor.

“Okay.” I grabbed his forearms with shaking hands. “Okay, breathe. We’ll find her.”

But Ty was beyond listening. He tore through the hallway, yanking open doors, calling her name with a panic so raw it rattled the walls. “Junie! Juniper. June bug—Junie!”

He was unraveling. And for the first time since I’d stepped foot on this mountain, I wasn’t.

I followed him into the living room. “Ty, listen to me.”

But he didn’t. He was already halfway down the hall toward the mudroom.

“Did you check the barns?” I asked, louder this time. “She likes the cats. Ty, did you check?”

“Yes!” he yelled back, voice ragged. “I was just there—she wasn’t—Jesus, where is she?”

He threw open the pantry door. The linen closet. The bathroom.

“Junie!” His voice was hoarse. Desperate.

Rowdy barked, pacing circles around us.

“Okay,” I whispered, forcing myself to think like Junie would.

Ty darted into the backyard, disappearing into sheets of rain, screaming her name into the trees.

I moved toward the front door instead.

Rowdy followed me to the porch, the rain hitting my face like a slap. Thunder boomed overhead. I scanned the gravel road, the dark curve of the river, the silhouette of the barn⁠—

And then I saw it.