Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“Do you mind if I ... go?” Hawk asked. “I know dinner is coming soon, but I just, I kind of need to, uh...” He couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Go, go, don’t you worry about me. I can fix dinner.” His sister gave him a wink, and Hawk left the house. It was pretty warm, and the sun was still up. The heat wasn’t as harsh as it had been a few hours ago.
In a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, he left the ranch and climbed into his dad’s old truck, the one he often drove around when he was a kid. He hadn’t purchased a car yet, as he’d enjoyed the walks into town. It relaxed him.
Driving down the long driveway, he pulled onto the main road and saw the sign that told him how long to the town center. Hope wasn’t a big town, but the surrounding area made it seem large. So many forests, hiking trails, camping grounds. It was a dream setting, and one Hope had never given up on.
Making his way into town, he went straight to the church, and then started to look around the cemetery. The land around the cemetery had expanded since he was last in Hope. He knew exactly where Sarah had meant, and he went straight to the plot.
The moment he looked at Adam Palmer’s tombstone, Hawk was shocked by the wave of pain that swept right through him. No one was at the cemetery. No one could witness his tears.
“Holy shit, I was hoping Sarah was wrong.” He took a gasp and then crouched down.
Adam rested beside his parents. Hawk knew he had lost them when he was young. Adam’s mother had died first of cancer, and within two years, so had his dad. During his father’s last days, Adam made himself emancipated, so he wouldn’t be taken in by the State. They arranged everything prior to Adam’s father’s death.
Hawk recalled going over to his house to give him some lessons, and being shocked that he was so responsible. He even asked him if he’d throw some wild parties. Adam had always told him he couldn’t. Being a minor and proving responsibility, a party would make things worse. The truth was, Adam had been hurting.
“I can’t believe this happened. I’m such a fucking dick for not writing back. I don’t even know which one of us wrote back last,” he said. “You shouldn’t be gone.”
He looked at the dates, knowing it had been seven years.
“You married Katie,” he said.
Hawk hadn’t even known the two were dating.
“I hope you guys were happy.”
He didn’t like that he didn’t know.
Tears filled his eyes. Work had dominated his whole world. Work and playing the fuck around, doing his job. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, pretending people were his friends, when the truth was, they didn’t give a fuck. When he ended up in the hospital, there were no friends, colleagues, or associates that had come to see him. None, fucking none.
There had been his family, but no one else, his working life hadn’t given him anyone.
Crouching down, staring at an old friend’s grave, he knew life had thoroughly kicked him in the balls. He suffered a heart attack, even died on the table for a short time. And yet, if he actually looked back on his life, all he had to show for it was a good company. That was it. Sure, people would love the company and the work, but he didn’t have anything else. No family. No kids. No wife. Nothing.
Adam had a wife. He didn’t even know if he had any kids. The saddest truth was that no one knew, not Adam, not his sister, not even Katie. Adam had married the one girl Hawk had a crush on throughout high school. Katie Smith had been one of the most amazing girls he’d ever known. She’d been a real firecracker, never taking his shit. It had been fun to tease her.
The cheerleaders had hated her. Yes, she’d been bigger than them, but she also had never walked around semi-naked. Whenever she walked into a room, Hawk had noticed her. Her long, brown hair had often been curled and looked so soft. She had been the only girl he had ever wanted, yet he’d never acted on it. Instead, he’d done what he had always done—been an asshole.
Katie had never been in his league.
****
Katie smiled at the tourist who was so excited to close off the rest of the world, and to just enjoy nature for the next month. She had insisted on bringing her cell phone-obsessed husband, and they had each left their cell phones back home.
It was amazing how many of her customers talked to her, and Katie loved it. She loved talking to people, helping them, advising them. Just like she had advised her customer about the occasional bear, and not to keep trash close to her tent.