CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ELLIOT
Four year after Selection
Three days after the funeral,Elliot had returned to Fort Liberty pretending to work.
He got through the morning briefing. Ate something at lunch he couldn't name afterward. Ran eight miles until his legs gave out. Came back to his apartment, showered, and sat on his bed in the dark.
His phone lit up.
It was an email from his father. He opened it reluctantly.
Your mother's affairs are largely settled. The summer house in Lyon will go on the market in the spring. I've arranged for her personal effects to be boxed and stored until you have a more permanent address. Let me know if there's anything specific you want set aside.
The house in Lyon. The only place Elliot had ever felt at home. There was no greeting. No sign-off. Just logistics, clean and efficient, his mother reduced to personal effects and storage arrangements only days after they'd put her in the ground.
Elliot read it twice.
Set the phone face-down on the nightstand.
Picked it up again.
He opened Hale's messages instead. There were six since the funeral, all unanswered.
His silence wasn’t deliberate, but he didn't know what to say.
Hale kept texting anyway, sending small, stupid, completely inconsequential things as if he understood Elliot didn't need conversation right now. Only proof that someone was there.
The most recent came in an hour ago.
Hale:Sky out here was unreal last night. you'd hate how much you'd like it
A photo followed of the coastline, shot through the open window of what appeared to be a helicopter. The sun dropped toward the water painting the entire sky orange.
Elliot studied it for an embarrassingly long time.
Then he opened the flight booking app.
He had intended to just look, but his mother’s last words, “My only regret is waiting,”kept circling his mind.
Suddenly, he ached for Hale. Deep in his bones. He needed to see him. Even if it was just for a weekend.
Twenty minutes later he had a Friday departure out of Raleigh-Durham. Probably not his smartest move, but he didn’t care.
Elliot:I'll be there tomorrow
Elliot:If that's okay
Elliot stared at the dots signaling that Hale was texting him back. It felt like forever before his phone finally buzzed.
Hale:Wait really?
Hale:Yeah, come
Civilian airports were exactlyas bad as Elliot remembered. Too many people moving in too many directions, the air thick with jet exhaust and fast food. It all combined into the desperation of an airport on a Friday afternoon.
Elliot collected his bag from baggage claim and checked his phone.
