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He laughed self-consciously. “Looking back, it was a very Katie thing to do. She didn’t want a husband, but she definitely had a romantic streak. She liked to see other people happy. And she wasn’t afraid to meddle a little to make it happen.”
A very Katie thing to do.The words made O’Neal wish he could give her a long list ofKatie things. Maybe this was a start.
He met O’Neal’s gaze. “I know it probably sounds sordid, especially with how the news media has painted her, but it really wasn’t like that. It was this really beautiful, comfortable night between friends. My only regret is that I should’ve insisted she stay the night with us.” His brown eyes went shiny. “She told us she couldn’t stay and had an early morning class, but I think that was an excuse. I think she figured she’d give us some alone time to figure things out. But I should’ve demanded she stay. Instead, I walked her to her car and let her go.”
O’Neal felt warmth on her cheeks and only then did she realize she was crying.I walked her to her car and let her go.She could picture it. This man walking her mom to her car after this intimate night, her mom feeling good about what she’d done to bring two friends together. Her sweet, beautiful mother walking away with a smile but unknowingly heading to the end of her short life.
“You couldn’t have known.”
Jason nodded, his hand pressed against the tablecloth. “That doesn’t make it hurt less.”
“What do you think happened?” Auden asked, a solemn note in his voice, his hand still on O’Neal’s. “Do you have a theory?”
Jason blew out a ragged breath and shook his head. “I’ve thought about it so many times, but I can’t come up with anything besides it being some crime of opportunity. Maybe she had to run some errand before she went home and a stranger found her by chance. She wasn’t seeing anyone. And after the night we’d had, I can’t imagine her going out anywhere or to bed with anyone else that same night.”
He got a far-off look and was quiet for a moment.
“It wouldn’t make any sense,” he said finally. “She was visibly tired when she left, ready to go to sleep. She’d washed her makeup off. Every indicator was that she was going straight home. We had lunch plans for the next day.” Sadness filled his expression. “Then she was just…gone. All that light she carried with her, gone.”
O’Neal swiped at her cheeks with her napkin, and Lennox put his arm around her. Quyen was crying now too.
“God, I wish I had something that could help. I want them to find who did this,” Jason said, anger coming into his voice. “I’d actually like an hour in a room with him and my surgery tools if I’m honest, but there’s just…nothing. And I’ve listened to the shows and podcasts about her case to see if maybe anything jogs something loose in my memory, but I just end up getting mad about how they talk about her. Even if she had been a party girl, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean, she didn’t deserve what happened to her. The world is a darker place without Katie Lory, and whoever took her from it and you needs to pay for it.”
O’Neal continued to cry silently, her chest hurting. “Thank you for being a friend to her. It sounds like you had a special relationship.”
Jason’s expression was full of empathy as he looked at her. “Your mom was a wonderful, kind-hearted person, and sheadoredyou. She was never shy about telling people she had a daughter. Your photo was on her keychain, and she showed it to everyone.”
O’Neal smiled a wobbly smile.
“I know she’d be proud that you’re trying to find justice for her,” Jason said. “But I hope that you can get to a place where her memory isn’t only about how her life ended. She was a person who wanted others to find their joy, whatever that looked like. She’d want you to find that too, to remember her happy. Because shewashappy. Her teen years had been rocky, but she’d let go of the past and had really come into who she was here at school. Her end was tragic but her life wasn’t.”
O’Neal squeezed her eyes shut, the tears flowing freely and not so quietly now, but she could feel Auden’s hand entwined with hers and Len’s arm around her shoulders. Quyen’s support was radiating across the table.
If her mom was looking down on her right now, she hoped that she could see it all. That her daughter missed her. But that she was surrounded by love. That she wasn’t alone. That she was finally figuring out who she was.
And, yes, that she was happy.
EPILOGUE
“All packed up?”
“I think so,” O’Neal said, handing her duffel over to Auden and stepping into the apartment. She gave him a quick kiss. “I mostly brought casual stuff. I figured we’ll be spending most of the time hanging out at your parents’ house. If I’m remembering right, your mom is way into the holiday spirit and has things pretty planned out.”
Auden smirked as he set her bag aside and shut the door behind her. “Yes, there will be much board gaming, cooking, and Christmas caroling. Mom turns into a sentimental holiday monster at this time of year.”
“I’m so looking forward to Blakes-mas,” Lennox said, walking over to O’Neal. He pulled her against him and planted a hot kiss on her lips. “Though two weeks of pretending I don’t want to touch both of you all the time is going to be a high-level test of will.”
“Hey, you two will be sharing a room. I’ll be locked away in Maya’s room,” O’Neal said, leaning back and giving him a pointed look. “Highly unfair.”
Auden snorted. “Don’t be jealous, Shaq. Len and I will be taking turns sleeping on the floor. There’s not a chance in hell I’m taking that kind of risk this week. We’re keeping our hands to ourselves. All of us. I’m only prepared to deliver one shock this week. We’ll tackle the others down the line.”
O’Neal smiled and turned, putting her back against Len’s chest. “We’re proud of you, you know?”
Lennox sat his chin on her shoulder. “Ridiculously so. You’re much hotter as an official film geek instead of a closeted one.”
Auden crossed his arms over his chest and gave them a wry look. “My family will probably shit a brick, but what’s done is done.”
Warmth suffused through O’Neal. Auden was trying to play this cool, but she could see the sparkle in his eyes. As of nine this morning, Auden Blake was officially a film major with a minor in business instead of the other way around. It was going to mean an extra year of school, but he was prepared to take out loans to do it. He was going for his dream, and over the break, he was going to tell his family about it.
