Page 95 of Secrets

Nelson takes Sutton's hand and walks towards the clubhouse. She pauses before the door, and she shakes her head. "I thought I could do it. Go inside, but I can't. Not with Cannon inside. I don't know what to say to him. I'm sorry," she says and hurries to her car, driving off quickly.

Nelson just stares in confusion. Daphne groans and points. "Go after her!"

"But..."

"Be a good boyfriend, Nelson."

"I think I should give her some time to cool down."

"I think you're an idiot and will lose the best thing that ever happened to you, but you do you," she says and climbs into her car. "Poor Sutton."

Driving out of the parking lot, Daphne smiles. She's going home to her knight, and she wishes she could tell him she loves him. She can't. Not yet. But even though she can't say the words, she plans to show him how she feels until she can.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Summerville

Bodie

Walking into his apartment, the one shared with Jolie, Bodie smiles and sits in the living room after collecting the mail from downstairs. Sure, he'd basically lived with Evie when he was back in Black Valley before he ended things, but he never changed his address. They never shared the cost of utilities, groceries, and rent. This feels different. So different, and he doesn't hate it.

"Junk, junk, and junk," he mutters. "I don't think I've ever gotten so much junk mail in my life. Someone's been selling my information."

The last envelope makes his heart skip a beat. The return address is the hospital. The place he got his new ticker, andhe worries he's getting some type of notification that there's a defect. That the heart he has in his chest has an expiration date just like the last one, and he's going to go through hell again.

He's tempted to just throw it away without reading it. If it's bad news, does he really want to read it? Does he want to know, or should he just be as surprised as everyone else when whatever gloom and doom inevitably happens?

Instead of tossing it out like his entire body screams at him to do, he rips it open and stares in confusion.

Dear Mr. Hall,

Enclosed is a letter from the family of your heart donor. We do not provide direct correspondence without the recipient's consent, and the contact information of your donor's family is enclosed should you want to reach out.

Sincerely,

Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital Staff

Of course, he'd ended up at a hospital with "Sacred Heart" in the name for his fucking heart transplant. It never escaped him how ironic it was. Staring at the sealed letter, something jumps out at him. The letter is from the Spalding family. Why does that name sound so familiar?

When he opens it, his heart sinks as he reads the enclosed note.

To the person who received our son's heart,

We're so very happy Justin was able to donate his heart to you. We've been told he saved your life, and even though he can't be here with us anymore, it means something special to know that part of him is still here. All of the organs donated to save someone's life makes us feel like he's still with us, within multiple people. He lives on in you and so many others.

Our Justin was a friendly guy. The best friend to anyone he met. One introduction, and you'd be sitting down and having a beer with him like old high school buddies. He was always so open and giving to everyone. He had the biggest heart of anyone we've ever known, figuratively speaking, of course. And he genuinely loved people. Anyone could call him at any time, and he'd give them the shirt off his back if they needed it.

He was a bit of a playboy, and we hope that aspect never transported with the organ correlating to love. Even though he had an eye for the ladies, he loved one woman more than anything else in this world. We're afraid she learned about his wandering eye, but we all know how much he loved her. He just wasn't quite built to give himself to one woman for the rest of his life.

Motorcycles, muscle cars, onion rings, a good grilled steak, his family, his friends, and Jolie. These are the things he loved the most in this world. Please have a big ribeye steak and onion ringsfor him. We know the doctors probably frown upon excessive consumption of red meat and fried foods with a heart transplant, but motorcycles are guaranteed to get you killed one day, and his love of driving fast muscle cars is what took him from us.

Hold your friends and family a little tighter for us. Cherish them, and thank whatever god you believe in for them the way we thank our God for Justin. He was the light of our lives, and he is sorely missed. It's like a light is always out in our lives, and there's no way to change it. And it's irreplaceable.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to contact us back, we'd love to hear from you. Any information about you and your life you'd like to share, we'd be more than excited to learn. To know what kind of person Justin saved.

Our information is at the bottom of this letter. Please don't hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

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