As a female deputy, Erin had been required to take coursework for rape counseling and had been assigned to help several women go through the process of filing charges against their attackers, an action that required humiliating photography sessions and physical exams to procure documented evidence. “Victims of violent crimes often no longer trust in their perception of reality,” she told Kennedy. “I helped interview the three boys who were present, so I got the details of what happened to Jen that evening, and the attack pretty much came at her from nowhere. She thought her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t bother her again. He’d gotten in big trouble, after all. Jen went to work that day as if it were any other day. Everything went well, just as it did on any other day. She never expected what happened. The boys came in on foot, so she didn’t see a car to forewarn her. The ex-boyfriend waited in hiding until she skated within his reach, and he dashed out to grab her arm. He carried her behind the dumpster and threw her to the ground, pissed off because she’d gouged his shins with the roller skates. The fall is what shattered her wrist. At that point, she could fight him off with only one hand. Her day became a nightmare beyond her comprehension. With no warning, a boogeyman leaped out. And now she doesn’t know when it may happen again. Rationally, she may know she’s being silly, but her fears are real. The unthinkable can happen, and once a person lives through that, it’s hard to get over it.”

Kennedy got the vegetables into the steaming rack inside the pot and then returned to the table. “I guess it’d be kind of like me walking through the woods and getting mauled by a grizzly where a grizzly bear should never be. I’d never feel relaxed in a forest again. It would take me a long time to get over it, anyway.”

“Exactly,” Erin replied. “When Jen seems irrational, just be patient and try to understand.”

“Thanks for talking to me. I guess I might be afraid, too, if I were her.”

Erin had become very fond of Kennedy. He was a genuinely nice young man. “Jen will now look at every guy she meets and wonder if he’s a grizzly bear disguised as a nice person. It’ll take her a while to start trusting again. You also need to realize that, in her eyes, you are the guy who once fought off the grizzlies to protect her. She may be super dependent on you for a while, because with you, she feels safer.”

After dinner, Erin teamed up with Tex to clean the kitchen and then walked to the main house. Wyatt, who’d gone out after supper to check on all the animals, intercepted her before she reached the porch. In the twilight, he was so handsome. The breeze lifted his longish hair beneath the brim of his Stetson, swirling it like strands of silk over his shoulders.