Page 202 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Soon,” Isay.

“Well, if you ever want to moonlight at Mason, you let meknow.”

I laugh again. “Willdo.”

“Thanks again,” he says. “We could have easily let that slide under the radar, but you forced our asses into gears. Some people might not like that, but I appreciateit.”

“Thanks, Mitch,” I say, deciding that he’s one of the goodguys.

“See youlater.”

“Seeyou.”

We hang up the phone. I stretch and go into the bathroom. I brush my teeth, shower, and get ready for the day. I kill an hour that way before packing up my stuff slowly. When I’m done, I call up Cora, but she doesn’tanswer.

I decide not to wait. I lug my stuff down to the car, get it packed, and head into the office. I pay my bill, hand in my key, and I am officially leaving this fuckingdump.

When I’m done, I’m surprised to find Cora standing over by my car. She smiles a little bit as I walk over towardher.

“Morning,” shesays.

“Morning,” I reply. I stop a few feet away fromher.

“I thought I’d come saygoodbye.”

I nod. “Thanks. I was going to come seeyou.”

“Got time forbreakfast?”

I smile. “Yeah. I think Ido.”

We get into my car and I drive us to the Great American. I can feel the tension in the car, but I don’t succumb to it. I ask her about her mother, and she talks about it as we head inside and grab atable.

Once our food arrives, I tell her about my call with Mitch. I’m surprised that she doesn’t seem to think much about it eitherway.

“I’m just glad I know the truth,” she says. “That’s all I reallywanted.”

“Well, you’re getting justice. Or some kind of it, atleast.”

She nods. “Good. I know it won’t help Atticus now… but at least those two people won’t be out there on thestreets.”

“No, they won’t. Not for a very long time, at least, and who knows. Maybe prison will be good forthem.”

That gets a smile out of her, but it quickly fades away. We move on to simpler things, stuff about my trip back home, what I’ll do there, promises that we’ll keep in touch, although I’m afraid they don’t mean much. I can see the pain on her face, and I feel ittoo.

Everything inside of me wants to stay. It’s screaming for me to stay. I’ve never felt like this about a woman before, and I have to realize by now that it’s real. It’s not just some stress-induced delusion. It’s a good thing, it’s pure and simple and it makes me happy. I don’t understand how I’m going to walk away fromit.

I pay the bill and we leave. We get into my car and I drive her back to her mom’s place, not really thinking about the car she left back at the motel. She doesn’t say anything about it, probably because she wants to spend more time withme.

We get to her mom’s place and I park out front. On a whim, I suddenly get out of the car. “Follow me,” I say to her, shutting the door behindme.

“Wait,” she says, getting out. I’m already walking away, past her mom’s place, toward the backyard.

She has to run to catch up. “What are you doing?” sheasks.

“Come on,” Isay.

We cut through the woods, down a short slope, and around a little bend. We find a path, mostly overgrown now, but still familiar. She keeps step behind me as we walk, down around another bend, and up ahead I can hear the bubbling of running water overrocks.

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