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Luke put the truck in reverse. “Your wish is my command,” he said, and he navigated to the parking lot exit. He paused, looking left and right. “I have no idea where…whatever that place Nate said is. Left or right?”
“You’re going to need to learn your way around town again,” she said.
“From Beeville, we used to go up to Vicksburg for groceries and stuff.”
“Really? It’s closer?”
“It was a thirty-minute drive instead of forty-five. Trust me, when I was fifteen, that was a big deal.”
“I don’t mind driving around the winding Texas roads,” she said. “I find it kind of soothing.”
“Is that right?” He waved left and right. “Which way?”
“Left,” she said, and Luke flipped on his signal. “Once, when I was thirteen or fourteen, my sister had a miscarriage.”
Luke swung his attention back to Hannah, and she gave him a warm smile. “I’m a caboose baby. My next oldest sister is eleven years older than I am. She was married and had a two-year-old already.” She paused, almost like she was sifting through the memories for the rest of the story.
“How many sisters do you have?” he asked.
“Two,” she said. “Bethany is forty-six, and Ruth is forty-eight. I have three nieces and one nephew. Eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fifteen.”
“Wow,” Luke said.
“You?”
“One brother and one sister. I’m right in the middle. Brynn is the oldest, and she’s married but doesn’t have kids. Joey’s the youngest, and he works with my uncle in Beeville and the surrounding area.” He shifted in his seat, wishing he knew where he was going. “Remember I said we had some property up there?”
“Resorts, I think you said,” Hannah said.
“Right. Resorts.” Luke scanned the street on both sides, trying to remember the name of the place Nate had mentioned. “What’s the name of this place where we’re going?”
“Western Grub,” Hannah said. “Take a left at the light up there.”
“A left.” He put his blinker on to change lanes. “Keep going with your story.”
“My sister was really upset, naturally,” Hannah said. “I remember my mama telling her she already had a child, and that she’d have other chances to get pregnant.” Hannah emitted a nearly-silent scoff and Luke caught her shaking her head. “I just remember Ruth being so angry. The only time I’ve ever heard her yell back at my mother. She stormed out of the house, and her last words were, you have no idea what I did.”
Hannah fell silent again, but Luke didn’t prompt her again. He made the turn, and the sign for Western Grub appeared up ahead, also on his left.
“My mother tried and tried to get Ruth to explain, and she never would. A month or two later, when I went over there to watch her daughter, she told me she needed me to come over after school on Wednesdays, because she was going to start attending therapy. I was young, and honestly really scared, and I asked her why she needed to go to therapy. She said she couldn’t stop thinking about all the things she’d done when she didn’t know she was pregnant. Everything from eating a lot of fish one weekend to continuing her jogging schedule. She wascertainshe’d done something to jeopardize the viability of her pregnancy.”
Luke could see where Hannah was headed with the story. He eased into the turn lane as she said, “She had to go see a counselor to move past the what-if stage. What if she’d done that? What if shehadn’tdone this other thing? Why hadn’t she known? It was very hard for her, but she got some help, and she healed. Within six months, she was pregnant again, and you know. Happily-ever-after.”
Luke made the turn and pulled into a parking space. “Do you think everyone gets their happily-ever-after?” Luke asked, putting the truck in park but leaving the engine running.
Hannah’s gaze landed on him, but he resisted the urge to look at her. “You know what, Mister Holt? I do. I believe in the happily-ever-after.”
He swung his attention toward her, giving her the same goofy smile she had on her face. “For everyone?”
“I think for everyone who wants one, who looks for it, and who works to keep it once they have it.”
Luke nodded a few times, suddenly so tired. He’d swallowed at least a gallon of seawater while trying to get to Connor, and when he closed his eyes, all he could see was dark, gray-blue water everywhere. He was surrounded by it, the same way he’d been encircled by the red-hot rage during his last fight. He hadn’t been able to stop then, because if he just kept hitting, hitting, hitting, he’d be able to work the fury out of his body.
Today had been so similar. The color surrounding him had been different, but the drive to get to Connor had been the same. He’d seen him there, his eyes wide and his mouth open, his hand reaching toward Luke. The fear on his face had struck Luke full in the chest, and it still hadn’t left him completely.
Connor hadn’t been able to get out of the clutches of the current, though, and the next time Luke had gone under, Connor’s eyes had been closed.
He shook his head to get the horrible image out. It didn’t go far, but with a breath, Luke managed to get out of the truck. Hannah met him at the hood, and she reached up and ran her hand down the side of his face. Her eyes searched his, and softness entered her whole expression.
