Page 11 of Nick
The desert had claimed much of what he remembered, its winds scouring paint and hope from the town’s bones.A pang of something like sorrow knitted his brow as he took in the shuttered windows and doors hanging off hinges.
“Has it always been this…broken?”he asked.
Sarah glanced out the window, her eyes tracing the same lines of decay Nick’s did.“No,” she admitted, her words soft with a melancholy undertone.“It’s gotten worse.Vincent’s grip on Sunburst, it’s like a vise—tightening and squeezing the life out of everything.”
Her fingers twisted in her lap, a small but telling sign of the anxiety she carried like a shawl around her shoulders.The very mention of Vincent seemed to cast a darker shadow across her already troubled expression.
“Vincent…” Nick tasted the name like a bitter pill.The old anger simmered, threatening to bubble to the surface once more.He clenched his jaw, forcing the emotion back down where it belonged—locked away.His hands tightened on his knees, muscles tensing beneath the surface of his skin.He turned his head, sparing Sarah the brunt of his glare, directing it instead at the empty streets that whispered of desolation.
“Everything he touches…” she continued, her voice trailing off, leaving the rest unsaid but understood.
“Let’s keep going,” Nick said, his tone clipped as he shifted his focus back to the road ahead.
“Take the next left,” Sarah instructed.Bronx obeyed without question, the vehicle’s suspension groaning in protest as they rolled onto an even more unforgiving road.
Nick’s gaze was drawn to Sarah’s reflection in the rearview mirror, the underlying steel in her posture, the quiet strength.
What was he doing here?They were heading toward a part of himself he’d tried to forget, guided by the woman who’d once been his compass.
The SUV stirred up clouds of dust that the wind swept away as quickly as they formed.Sarah’s directions led them to the outskirts where the houses were fewer and farther between, the landscape offering no respite from the scorching sun.
“That one there,” Sarah said.She pointed to a trailer house ahead, its white paint weathered by the sun.
Bronx eased the vehicle to a halt in front of the home, the engine’s idle rumble punctuating the heavy silence that had settled inside the SUV.Nick took a moment to absorb the sight before him: the neat curtains visible through the windows, the small porch promising welcome.
It was worn but cared for, standing defiantly against Vincent’s pervasive influence.It spoke of Sarah’s determination to carve out a sanctuary in a place that seemed to have surrendered to decay.
Nick’s hands clenched involuntarily at his sides.
“Home,” Sarah whispered, almost to herself, confirming what Nick had already guessed.His heart constricted at the word.
Sarah reached for the door handle, pausing as if bracing herself for what lay beyond it.
Nick watched her.He knew that stepping out of the SUV meant stepping into a past he wasn’t sure he was ready to face.But there was no turning back now—not when every fiber of his being urged him to follow her into whatever awaited them in that neat little trailer on the edge of town.
As Nick opened the door and stepped out, his gaze swept over the landscape that was all too familiar—yet foreign in its current state of neglect.The New Mexico sun scorched the earth, and a desolate breeze whispered through the sparse vegetation, carrying with it the scent of dust and forgotten dreams.
His eyes narrowed as they landed on a colorful assortment of children’s outdoor toys, neatly piled into a large container by the front steps of Sarah’s trailer.Plastic trucks, a frayed soccer ball, and a small tricycle.A pang of something he couldn’t quite name tightened his chest, an echo of a life he might have known had fate not been so cruelly twisted.
“Sarah?”A voice cut through Nick’s thoughts, pulling his attention from the toys to the figure now standing in the doorway of the trailer.
Una Sanchez stepped out onto the porch, the sun casting her slender form into stark relief against the faded wood.Her wavy brown hair framed her face, catching the light in a way that softened her expression of concern.Una’s yellow brown eyes met his, filled with a kindness that seemed almost out of place in the harsh surroundings.
“Nick?Is that really you?”Una’s voice held the warmth of welcome, but there was a note of caution there too, as if she was unsure how he’d respond after all these years.Her hand clung to the doorframe.
“Una,” Nick said, his voice clipped as he struggled to keep his emotions in check.He hadn’t expected to see Sarah’s cousin, another link to a past he thought he’d left behind.“It’s been a long time.”
“Too long,” she said, stepping down from the porch.“We weren’t sure if we’d ever see you again, after…everything.”
Nick’s anger clawed at him, urging him to turn away, to reject the ties that bound him to this place and its painful history.Yet, as he stood there, confronted by the unexpected presence of Una, who had been nothing but kind to him in the past, he couldn’t make himself leave.This was Sarah’s family, her support system, and a part of him still wanted to shield them from any danger.
“Life’s full of surprises,” he managed to say, his tone carefully neutral.He scanned the area, always wary of potential threats.
“That it is.”Una’s smile was tinged with sadness as she gestured for them to come inside.“Come on in.All of you.”
Before they could move, the screen door behind Una banged open with a suddenness that had Nick tensing, his shoulders squaring as if bracing for impact.
A blur of movement streaked across the parched yard—a small boy, no more than a toddler, barreling toward Sarah.He launched himself into her arms, speaking in rapid-fire Spanish that bubbled over with the same effervescence as the laughter that spilled from his lips.
