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Kelly shook his head. “High school was a long time ago. Haven’t thrown a touchdown pass to you in over a decade.”
“And so maybe it’s time we reconnected,” said Shane. “And maybe now would be a good time to do it.”
“So you’ll keep running the businesses?” said Jamison.
“The town needs it. Hell, I need it.”
“What about the restaurant?” asked Kelly. “What about Maddie’s?”
“I’ve got some ideas about that,” said another voice.
They turned to see Dawson walk into the room. Her haunted look and unsteady gait indicated that she had not fully recovered from her ordeal.
She came to stand next to Shane.
“You saved my life.”
His voice trembled when he replied, “I couldn’t let that woman shoot you.”
She kissed him on the cheek and touched Kelly’s hand. “How are you, Joe?”
“Better now,” he said, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
She seemed to read his mind. “I’m the same Caroline, you know. Well, maybe not exactly the same. I feel like I’ve grown more in the last few days than I have in all the years before that.”
Shane said, “I feel the same.”
Kelly nodded in agreement, then said, “You mentioned you had some ideas?”
Dawson perched on the side of the bed and took one of Shane’s hands and one of Kelly’s in each of hers. “This is our home. My dad wanted to move to France, but I never did. We grew up here. We’ve seen so many changes.” She paused. “And now so many people have died. Stuart, my dad, Walt, Liz, and all the others.”
Kelly said, “And something big went down over at the military base and at the drilling site, but Decker can’t tell us what.”
“My point is,” said Dawson, “that this town really needs us right now. Shane now owns pretty much everything. But the future of London depends on the investments and the decisions made now. We’re sort of at a crossroads. While the busts seem to be behind us, the world’s not going to live on oil forever. We need to do it right. Because doing it wrong is not an option.”
Shane said, “I came here in part to get Joe to help me run it. I just thought you were going to leave, Caroline, or else I would have asked you too.”
“Well, I’m not, I’m staying. For a lot of reasons.” She drew a long breath. “So I was thinking that we could work together to keep everything going. See, I’m betting on London, North Dakota, making the transition from just an oil town to a place where people want to live. And, well, I hope you feel the same.”
Shane said, “I never wanted any part of my dad’s business. But now that it’s mine to run, I’m thinking a lot differently. I know about fracking, but you know about everything else, Caroline. So working together seems like a great idea.” He looked at Kelly. “You in?”
Kelly squeezed Dawson’s hand. “Well, considering I might not be able to pass the physical to qualify as a cop again, and that you two were always my best friends, it’s a pretty easy decision.”
Dawson hugged first Kelly, then Shane. All three of them had fresh tears in their eyes.
“And we wish you the best of luck,” said Jamison, while Decker nodded.
Kelly said, “I hope I never need the FBI again, but if I do, I hope to hell they send you.”
Shane said, “Goes double for me.”
Dawson gave Jamison and Decker hugs. “Thank you, for everything.”
As Decker left with Jamison, he turned around to see three lifelong friends plotting how to change their little piece of the world for the better. Or at least the little part of it represented by London, North Dakota.
* * *
Blue Man had a government jet sent to take Decker and Jamison and Robie and Reel back to DC.
