Page 36 of To the Moon and Back
But he never made contact.
Whatever the reason, Jenna clearly wasn’t going to hear from Brady. And as time passed she told herself she was crazy to still think about him. She didn’t even know his last name. The detail hadn’t seemed important back then. He was going to call her that week. They had forever to figure out last names and logistics.
Instead, they missed whatever might have been. Though Jenna would always remember the magic of that single day.
The next four April 19 anniversaries, Jenna was in college at a small private university in Texas, so she never made it back to the memorial. She did, though, make her way back to Jesus.
Yes, God had a plan for her. She still believed that. A plan that included her teaching job in Columbus. But clearly it did not involve a dark-haired stranger from a lifetime ago. A guy she only knew by his smile and handsome face, his deep eyes and a name she would never forget as long as she lived.
Brady.
11
T hey’d been back from spring break for a week and this Saturday was one Ashley and the entire Baxter family had been looking forward to for a month. In a few hours, all of them were meeting at the Christian Kids Theater for a matinee performance of Peter Pan. Annie and Janessa and Amy were in the show. Amy was playing Wendy—her biggest role yet.
After the show, everyone was coming back to Landon and Ashley’s house for dinner. Ashley checked the time on the microwave. Just after noon. She’d already dropped the girls off at the theater and three pot roasts with vegetables were cooking in her Crock-Pots—all lined up on the counter.
The show didn’t start for another two hours.
Landon and the boys were fishing at Lake Monroe, so Ashley had something she didn’t often have: time.
She still hadn’t found Jenna, though she’d searched every way she knew how. No bombing survivors or grieving children by that name. Nothing in the Internet archives.
None of the survivor registries listed her name. Which meant she must not have been in the building when the bomb went off.
Bottom line, Ashley needed more information. Sure she had Brady’s cell number. But maybe if she revisited his Facebook page. Or found something on social media. Maybe then she’d know more about him and his story. Like why he’d been so short with her in his response last week.
Ashley grabbed her laptop and sat out on the back porch. The day was mild and breezy, the blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds. Spring had filled in green where bare branches were just a few weeks ago.
She turned on her computer and brought up Facebook. She’d seen his page before, that day on the boat, but only briefly. She still hadn’t found the right time to tell Landon about her text to Brady. But it didn’t matter. She hadn’t texted Brady again.
Maybe Brady’s social media would tell Ashley something new. Something about Jenna or the reason Brady felt so alone. He didn’t have many posts on his page from what she remembered. But maybe she’d missed something. Ashley typed his name in the Facebook search bar: “Brady Bradshaw.”
She closed her eyes. Lord, why is this guy on my heart? If You want me to drop the whole thing, I will . She took a slow breath and opened her eyes. She clicked enter and . . . there he was. Same as before. Brady Bradshaw. Firefighter. Oklahoma City. Dark hair and chiseled face. He didn’t have sunglasses the way he had at the memorial. But it was him. No question. She scanned the page. Still not much here.
Okay, Ashley. Go slow. Look for clues.
She read the most recent post. It was from the anniversary. The picture was the fence, and there at the center of the image was his letter tucked into the chain link. For Jenna . Ashley could only read the girl’s name because she knew what it said. Otherwise it would’ve been easy to miss. Just an artsy photo from the memorial.
But Ashley knew better.
It was a sign, of course. If Jenna were to look for Brady, and if somehow she were to find his Facebook page, then just maybe she would know. That every year since they met, Brady had come back to the site for her.
All for her.
The status wasn’t long. Ashley read it. Some years I wait a little longer at the fence. Just in case this is the year you join me.
Chills ran down Ashley’s arms. The guy was obsessed. Whatever had happened between him and Jenna, he wanted to find her more than he wanted his next breath. Or at least it seemed that way.
“Okay,” she whispered. “So who are you, Brady?” She scrolled down the page. The older posts were about a fund-raiser the fire department was hosting. A little more reading and she figured it out. A firefighter had died working a fire a year earlier. The benefit was to raise money for his family.
She checked his photos. In case there might be something else, something from the memorial. Maybe a snapshot of the two of them eleven years ago. He didn’t have many pictures. A few of the firehouse, and his rig. One of him with a couple fellow firefighters.
Another scroll down and there was the calendar image of him. He was August in the Oklahoma City Firefighters Calendar. This time Ashley studied the look on his face. He was smiling, but his eyes looked dead. Closed off. Whatever his story, it colored everything about his life. Even when he was supposed to be having fun.
Another page of pictures and there were a few of him much thinner, wearing only a scrappy pair of shorts. Super tan. From when he’d been a contestant on the TV show Survivor. Didn’t make it more than a few weeks, by the look of it.
Ashley read every caption and post. There was no mention of faith or gratitude or the blessings of life. No signs of a deep friendship or close family members or a girlfriend. “He meant what he said in the letter,” Ashley muttered. “He really is alone.”
