Page 98 of The Front Runner
Hank and I make brief eye contact before both nodding. Her hand darts out, and I see the anticipation shining in her eyes. Feelings about this have been a bit of a rollercoaster for me, but Mira issocertain. She’s the only thing keeping me grounded.
In a flash, she tears the top of the envelope and pulls out crisp white papers. Intelligent eyes scan the page, her practiced impassive face giving nothing away. She flips the papers onto the placemat before her, rolling her lips together as her almond-shaped eyes find mine. Like always, I could get lost in those eyes. I often do, but right now I’m staring at them looking for some sign, some tell. She’s giving me nothing.
“Stefan…”
This is torture.
I can’t even tell if she’s taking forever to say it or if time is standing still. Her full, soft lips tip into a smile. “I’d like you to officially meet your father.”
Hank barks out a loud laugh, leaning back in his chair with an exaggerated clap. But I just reach for Mira and yank her to me, gathering her in my arms. Her hair smells like honey, and her T-shirt smells like fresh laundry soap.
I realize that without her, without the universe placing her in my path, without a sick horse, without a dead mom… without all of that, I may never have found Hank. Without Mira, I may never have met my dad.
“Thank you.” I nuzzle into her neck, momentarily distracted by all the ways I plan to thank her later tonight.
“Always,” is all she says, before holding me back and smiling at me, eyes twinkling with unshed tears. “Now go hug your dad.”
So, I do. I round the table and walk right into Hank’s wide-open arms. Mydad’swide-open arms.
God. That feels good.
“Nice to officially meet you, son.”
I hear the emotion in his voice, and to be frank, I don’t really trust myself to respond. So, I just squeeze him tighter. It feels like I’ve spent a lifetime looking for him. And now I’ve found him.
We spend the next thirty minutes talking, laughing, and just feeling immensely relieved. When the night winds down, he hugs Mira, and I don’t miss the way he whispers, “Thank you for bringing me my boy.”
I also don’t miss the way she wipes at her eyes and nods.
I don’t know how I’ll ever repay her. Repay the universe for giving me her.
Actually, I do. I know exactly how I’m going to do it. Which is why after Hank leaves, I suggest a walk down to where the barn used to stand. They have cleared away the rubble and now it’s just a big flat space. Ready to be rebuilt.
Next to the lake, Loki and Farrah graze happily in their field. Loki whinnies when he sees me.
“Your heart horse is saying hello, my love,” Mira says.
I wrap my arm around her and pull her closer, feeling endlessly grateful.
After the fire, Billie approached me with a deal. Half-ownership of the little colt for everything I’d done to help with saving him. The woman I thought hated me is now calling me her ‘brother from another mother’ and giving me half of one of her most prized horses. The world works in truly mysterious ways.
We walk into the middle of the cleared space. Hand in hand. After the hospital, Mira moved straight in with me. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. Life was too fragile to spend another moment not together. This much I have learned. Plus, since finishing her courses, Nadia has decided to attend a college in the city to become a veterinary technician. That’s how much she loves working with Mira. She’ll be moving to Vancouver to pursue that soon, leaving the house to just the two of us.
A companionable silence stretches between Mira and me. Today is already one of the happiest days of my life. And I’m about to make it a whole lot happier.
There’s this part of me that thinks standing here in the aftermath of a fire that took so much should make me sad.
But I feel relieved.
This is where I almost lost Mira. This is where I roped her into my arrangement. This is where I spent quiet nights learning Mira. This is where I laid my life on the line to save her.
I believe my mom is overlooking this exact spot from where I sprinkled her ashes.
This spot is my whole world. This spot is fate. This spot is my future.
This is where I’m going to rebuild.
Mira and me? We’re like a phoenix, born from the ashes. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
