Escaping the Past

“Well, hell, I can take you to the airport.”

“I can’t exactly kiss you goodbye, can I?” Brody said sarcastically.

“I think that was what she was trying to avoid,” John mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Brody asked.

“To be so smart, you sure are stupid,” John said around a mouth full of Sadie’s pound cake.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.

“She loves you, dumbass,” John growled back.

“Well, I love her, too,” Brody said, dumbfounded.

John grinned wildly. “You haven’t told her that, yet, have you?”

“No. I’m going to surprise her when I come back. I quit my job back home and I’m just flying back to get a U-Haul to bring my furniture and stuff. I got a job at the hospital here.” He still looked unhappy. “I took my mother’s ring to be cleaned last week so I could ask her to marry me and put it on her finger.”

“You picked it up yet?” John asked.

“No. Why?” Brody wanted to know.

John grabbed his hat off the hat rack and slammed it on his head. “You ain’t flying nowhere. Your apartment can wait a few days. Hell, I’ll pay your rent, if I have to. I’m rich now.” He guffawed. “Let’s go get that ring. I know where Lou is.”

Brody steeled himself by grabbing the back of the chair in front of him. His doubtful eyes met John’s. “You think she’ll have me?”

“Only one way to find out,” Jeb said from the hallway as he and Sadie walked into the kitchen, both smiling.

Brody and John walked out to the car and Brody took the keys. “I’m still not riding with you, even with a bad arm.” He slid into the seat but dropped the keys when he went to put them in the switch. He reached down and slid his hand along the carpet. His fingers brushed a bag beneath the seat and he pulled it out. His eyebrows drew together as he opened it, and then his eyes grew wide.

“Hey, that’s Lou’s girly stuff she bought the other day.”

“This is Lou’s?” Brody croaked before a huge grin tugged at his lips.

“Yeah,” John replied hesitantly. “I never would have thought a box of tampons would make a man so happy,” John mumbled.

“You have no idea, John,” Brody said, flying out of the driveway.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lou stood by the pond at the park, watching Sarah as she played. Her mind was so full of problems she couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down. She was definitely her mother’s daughter. She was pregnant and alone. Brody didn’t want her enough to stay or even to ask her to go with him.

Lou squared her shoulders, though, and sat up straight. “I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again,” she whispered quietly against the wind.

Then Lou heard a male voice behind her, breaking into her thoughts.

“Lou?” Brody said.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking at her watch. “I thought you had a plane to catch?”

“I do. I did.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But, when you ran away, I realized I needed to explain a few things to you before I go.”

Lou’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you need to explain?”

“I wasn’t leaving you,” he said slowly.

“But you had a plane to catch,” Lou said, bewildered.