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“I’m sorry, he was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital. He took out five armed men before taking a shot to the stomach. He went down fighting.”
Charlize’s mouth fell open as she crumpled against Mick. “He’s dead?” she asked, clearly already knowing the answer.
“I never should have let him come in here,” Mick bit out angrily. “I knew we were out-numbered. I just had to get to you, and now he’s...”
Harry, who had risked everything to help them, had paid the ultimate price. Grief and guilt weighed heavily on Mick's shoulders as he processed the terrible news. He thought of Rose and Nathaniel. Of the remorse that had driven Harry to want to make things right. Now he’d paid the ultimate price.
Charlize clung to Mick, tears in her eyes, their relief for everyone else’s safety overshadowed by the profound sorrow they now shared.
“The rest of the raids?” Charlize asked, just above a whisper. “Is everyone getting out, okay? Are they clearing each apartment building?”
“All reports are positive so far. Tons of drugs seized. All the people held captive are being taken out and secured. The corporate offices are being searched now too. Arrests being made.”
It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel over. Mick had told Carmen he wanted out after this. He wanted to be living some different life and enjoying a fresh start. It didn’t feel as though anything would be fresh or enjoyable after this. A blanket of despair closed in around him as Charlize led him by the hand out of the building and to the car.
“I should have stayed with him,” he muttered mostly to himself. “We should have cleared that side of the building together. I was distracted. I thought...”
“Don’t do this to yourself Mick,” Charlize begged. “You’ll go crazy thinking about what you could have done differently.”
Going crazy seemed like a real possibility as she settled with a thud into the passenger seat. “I need to talk to Carmen,” he stuttered out. “I need to tell her I’m done.”
Charlize didn’t argue. She didn’t try to convince him this was just shock. Instead she dialed the phone and nodded at him. "We’re both done,” she whispered back. “We’ve done all we can. It’s time.”
CHAPTER 36
Mick and Charlize sat side by side on the sun-kissed beach, the sound of waves gently lapping at the shore. Their chairs were low, leaning back to where they were nearly sitting on the ground. What they thought would never be their reality suddenly was and it was proving to be more wonderful then either of them had imagined. Long mornings over brunch talking about their intertwined memories and missions. Correcting what the other had misremembered. Laughing about what had gone wrong. Sighing with relief over what had gone right.
There was very little to break them from their peace until there was. Charlize's phone rang, shattering the tranquility of the moment. She let out a frustrated sigh, eyeing the device as if it were an unwelcome intruder. "Whoever this is," she muttered, "better have a good reason for calling. I’m positive I told everyone I know to leave us alone for at least another couple of weeks.”
But as she answered the call and listened to the voice on the other end, her face fell. Mick watched her closely, concern etched on his features. He could tell by her expression that something was terribly wrong.
Mick spent a lot of his life waiting for the other shoe to drop. Expecting things to go wrong. Maybe it was a coping mechanism or something broken within in. People would always say, I never thought it could happen here. I never thought it could happen to us. Mick disagreed. He was all too aware that good things didn’t last forever. This time on the beach would surely be interrupted. They’d be pulled back to reality, and now, looking at Charlize, he was sure this was the moment.
Charlize hung up the phone, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "It's the nurse who cares for my mother," she began, her voice trembling. "The diagnosis is bad, Mick. The prognosis... it's not long. I need to go home."
They’d talked about her mother. Never before this trip though. That was the gift the beach had given them. Time and energy to actually connect. To share the painful stories and the harsh realities that had brought them to these places in their lives. He knew Charlize had a complicated relationship with her mother. He also knew there was some fragility to her mother’s health. But this new turn was clearly something serious.
“I’m sorry,” he offered, reaching across and taking her hand in his. “What can I do to help?”
“There is really nothing to do. I just have to go home.” The last word seemed to stick in her throat like a strangling piece of food that just wouldn’t go down.
“It’s been a while, right?” He squeezed her hand to remind her not to float away into the darkness that was clearly coming over her.
“Yes. I’ve done some short visits but I haven’t really been back there for any amount of time for over a decade. That town is…”
“Small towns always are.”
“And my mother and I…”
“Mothers and daughters, it’s always the same. Do you want me to come with you? I can help. I can be there in any way you need me to.”
“Really?” She asked, turning toward him with a shocked expression. “You’d come back to my shitty little home town and be with me while my mother dies?”
“I’d leave right now. I’d hold your hand the whole time.”
“I know you would,” she sighed again, the overwhelm taking over. “But I don’t know exactly what it’s going to be like or how long I’ll be there. I think I need to do this alone.”
The gravity of the situation was setting in on both of them. For Charlize their late night walks on the beach would be replaced by difficult conversations within troubled relationships and the heavy weight of grief.
