Page 107 of Daybreak

Gunner’s house was under contract, and the belongings they planned to keep were in a Dallas storage facility. The rest had been donated to Habitat for Humanity Resale.

Gunner had driven the Rubicon back to Crossroads yesterday with most of his clothes, left it at his dad’s, and flew back to Dallas the same day.

It was also Holly’s last day at work, and her coworkers gave her a personal wedding shower at the office while Gene was out showing a house. The gifts were all sexy bits of lingerie. Holly accepted them with the proper gasps and blushes, without mentioning they both slept in the nude, and drove to the room she and Gunner had reserved at a hotel near the airport where he would be landing.

A couple of hours later, she heard sounds outside her room, and then a click. Gunner walked in the room with an overnight bag.

“You’re back!” Holly said and rolled off the bed to meet him. “Did everything go okay?”

“Yes. The Jeep is parked at Dad’s. My clothes are unloaded in my room, and my Mustang is now in the parking lot of this hotel, gassed up and ready. We’re heading to the land of no Uber options, no DoorDash, and no freaking traffic jams,” he said and gave her a quick kiss. “What about you?”

“The girls at the office gave me a personal wedding shower.”

“What’s a personal wedding shower?” he asked.

She pointed to the display of stuff straight out of Victoria’s Secret. “Don’t ever expect me to wear any of that stuff,” she added.

“Good. I like you better nekkid,” he drawled. “I’m starving. Let’s go down to the restaurant, okay?”

“Whither thou goest,” she said and went to get her shoes.

While they were in the restaurant, Gunner got a text. “Hey, honey, it’s from Detective Frankie Adams. Remember her?”

“Yes! Read it. It might be important,” she said.

Gunner opened the text. There was a picture and the words THANK YOU FROM THE ADAMS FAMILY. It was a picture of their home with a new roof, a shiny new handicap ramp, and a fresh paint job on the exterior of the house. In the photo, Frankie and her sister were standing on the porch with their mother in her wheelchair between them. They were all giving him a thumbs-up.

“Look at this, darlin’,” he said and handed Holly his phone.

“That’s a great photo. Is that her family with her? What are they thanking you for?”

He shrugged. “I always knew Detective Adams was struggling financially. About four years ago, she moved back to her childhood home to care for her handicapped mother, as well as footing the bill for her younger sister’s beauty school. The day she and Cliff came to the house, I got to thinking how much I had, and how much she needed help, so I called her that night and said I wanted to offer a little financial assistance, but I didn’t want to insult her. She was shocked. Then she cried, but she wasn’t insulted. She accepted it with gratitude and came by the next day to pick up the check. I think that was the day you went home to pack some clothes.”

Holly was in awe. “Just when I think you can’t get any better, I find out something like this.”

He shrugged. “I gave her the same amount of money that Burgess Dixon was offering to the first hit man who killed me. For me, it erased the ugliness of that. Now, when I think of that amount, I think of Frankie and her family doing okay. That’s a new roof and paint job on the exterior. The handicap ramp she needed for her mother wasn’t there before, and her hair is blue, which means she’s still the model for her sister’s lessons.”

Holly was in tears. She could only imagine what that must have meant to the whole family. “I just love you,” she said.

He grinned. “Thanks, I love you, too.”

“Give me a sec to powder my nose, and I’ll be ready to go,” Holly said.

While she was gone, Gunner replied to Frankie’s message.

Freakin’ awesome! Have a blessed life! Your hair is blue!

* * *

They woke up at daybreak. Gunner lifted a curly lock of hair away from the corner of Holly’s eye and then kissed her on the nose.

“Up and at ’em, sleepyhead! This is the day we get the hell out of Dallas.”

After that, it was a whirlwind of action. Packing up their overnight bags, eating a quick breakfast, and checking out of the hotel. It was just after 7:00 a.m. when they went out to valet parking. Because they were traveling together, but in two separate cars, they began discussing the trip.

“Don’t drive too fast and lose me,” Holly said.

“As if,” Gunner said. “If we get separated in Dallas traffic, it’s no big deal. I’ll be watching our Life360 apps. I’ll know when you get on the 287 that takes us home. If I’m ahead of you, I’ll wait for you to catch up. If you’re ahead of me, just keep driving; I’ll catch up with you. When you need to stop for any reason, flash your lights or pass me. Then we’ll pull off together at the next exit.”