Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. I could see that they were slightly swollen as though she’d been crying. “Oh my goodness. Nova. Wait, you’re Nova.”

I smiled as Charlie and Tuck stepped inside and the sheriff closed the door. “I am,” I said. Although I currently felt about a million miles away from Nova. Right now, I didn’t even really feel like Emily. Rather, I felt like I was waiting for someone to introduce me to myself. Charlie had offered me a role, hadn’t he? He’d told me the part I could play if I was willing. Damsel in distress with him as my hero in a world where a comet had hit the earth and dissolved most of humankind. And I wanted to play that part, to pretend. I did, because I really had no clue who to be. And yet, as much as I wanted to reject the reality of our current circumstances, I apparently wasn’t talented enough to make believe this into a fantasy.

“And you’re Charlie Cannon. Oh my God. Dad! You didn’t tell me you were bringing Charlie Cannon and Nova home.” She gave a small laugh and brought a hand to her mouth for a moment. “Hi. Are you part of their security?” she asked Tuck as she lowered her arm.

“No,” he murmured, but didn’t follow that up with anything. I’d noticed he’d been extra quiet as we’d walked here, his expression more troubled than it’d been thus far. And I wondered if that was because of the murder we witnessed, or the fact that this outage might extend way farther than we’d originally thought. But of course, I knew very well Tuck would be stingy with his thoughts even if I asked and so I didn’t.

“Well, um, can I take your coats?” Katelyn asked. She gave me another nervous glance. “The last couple of days have been crazy and now this. I wish I could get a selfie. Will you autograph something for me before you leave?”

“So, you’re really celebrities, then?” Sheriff Goodfellow asked as we took off our jackets and gave them to Katelyn, who hung them on a nearby coatrack. Tuck set his duffel bag by the door.

“Don’t mind my dad,” Katelyn said, gesturing for us to follow her past a living room off the entryway where a crackling fire was jumping in the hearth. I thought I saw movement from the couch, but it wasn’t facing us, so I didn’t know for sure. “He doesn’t get out much. Or if he does, it’s in the middle of the wilderness to hunt elk.” She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes but then gave her dad an affectionate smile.