My uncle’s death has been like a thunderclap that’s left everyone in town shaken. Gabe wasn’t just my uncle; he was the cornerstone of Shadow Grove. The guy everyone looked to for guidance, jokes, and the best damn barbecue in town. For decades, he and Aunt Aubrey were the bleeding heart of this town. Now, with him gone, nothing feels quite right.

Aunt Aubrey has been a wreck. She’s been glued to my side since his death, alternating between bouts of quiet grief and episodes of furious casserole cooking. My best friend, Mo, had to stage an intervention this morning just to give me a breather. It’s not that I don’t love my aunt—of course, I do—but a guy needs his space. Even grief needs room to breathe, and Aubrey’s constant hovering is suffocating me.

So here I am. Alone in the woods. Trying—and failing—to make sense of it all.

The department said he left work early because he wasn’t feeling well. On his way home, he pulled over to be sick, lost his footing, slipped, and hit his head. By the time Morgan found him, it was too late. He was in a coma, and he never woke up.

He was supposed to retire later this year. He’d been calling it his Christmas gift to Aunt Aubrey—promising her after decades of service, they’d finally have the time. They were planning on globetrotting, and had spent their entire lives playing ‘this time next year we’ll be in…’ Now there’s nothing.

Nothing but a fridge full of casseroles, an empty placemat at the dinner table, and a house that feels more like a shrine than a home.

Mo—god bless her—pulled some sort of magic trick to distract Aunt Aubrey for the day. It had to do with baking and fresh fruit from her garden, but I don’t remember the specifics. There is nothing she can’t do when she sets her mind to it. Mo is one of the most dependable people in town. We met when we were both in our early teens. She had just moved to the area from Texas and I had just moved in with Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Gabe after my parents’ death. Her mom bought the house next to my aunt’s, and since we were both having a difficult time settling in, we begrudgingly became friends. And somewhere along the way, it became real.

Aubrey and Gabe had been together since I was young, I think I was around two.

Aubrey likes to joke that her job is to keep an eye on the town her husband is the sheriff of—was the sheriff of. In reality, she’s the town gossip. Nothing happens in this town without her hearing about it. As the Chief Deputy Sheriff of a small town, Gabe never really did any traveling unless it was with her.