Page 98 of One Last Shot
“It’s too far away from the beaten path. People only look for the obvious. They found my sister’s car only thirty feet off the highway, but because a snowplow had come by and sprayed up a bank, they missed where she went off, and the trees obscured her.”
“How awful.”
As they moved farther from the river, the wildness started to quiet around them.
“When we didn’t hear from her, my mom started to panic, and then my dad and she drove the entire route to Minneapolis. By then it had been over a day, so we alerted the state troopers. It took them another entire day to find her, and even then, they found Maggie and her mother first.”
“Maggie, of Maggie’s Miracle.”
“Yeah.” He looked at her. “Maggie will be sixteen and is having a birthday party next month, over Memorial Day weekend.”
After a moment, she looked at him. “And?”
“And she wrote to me and invited me to the party.”
More silence.
“Oaken?”
He kept walking, scanning the forest. “So, what you don’t know is that... I’ve always sort of blamed myself for my sister’s accident.” For some reason, it didn’t hurt quite so much coming out the second time. “We got in a fight rightbefore she left, and I... well, I always thought that maybe if we hadn’t, she wouldn’t have left and...”
“And wouldn’t have hit Maggie and paralyzed her. I’m starting to put the pieces together. The fifty thousand isn’t just a donation. It’s... redemption.”
He ignored the sharp stab of pain. “Sort of. I guess. The problem is... I don’t really want...”
She stopped. Turned. Looked up at him.
“I don’t want the world to think I’m some sort of hero, showing up to play for Maggie’s party. Fact is, I donate through a charitable organization Goldie set up—Courageous Hearts. Maggie and her mom don’t know that I’m involved.” He drew in a breath. “But if I tell her, then...”
“Then you have to face the fallout.”
“Yeah. I’m either a hero or a villain.”
“And if you don’t show up, you’re sort of a villain too.”
“But not if I send her fifty thousand dollars.”
“So you’re buying your way out of this.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. Then, “Yep.” He walked past her down the path.
She caught up with him. “Well, I think you’re a hero. Just for the record.”
“Yeah, a hero who jumped off the stage and beat up a guy because he couldn’t face a sixteen-year-old kid with the truth. I’d gotten her letter the day before. And consumed way too much whiskey, and... yeah. Only chocolate milk for me from now on.”
She laughed.
He didn’t. “Truth is, Huxley was right. I am hiding.”
Suddenly, he felt her hand take his. “Here’s to hiding.”
He glanced at her.
She gave him a soft smile, an expression that found his soul.In her eyes, I see a love thatwill endure.
The sound of a chopper thundered, and in a moment, the red bird zoomed overhead.
“There’s the cabin,” she said and let go of his hand, running through the snow toward it.