Cord. The safety patrol.
"Normal teen stuff," he said, ignoring Iris's interruption. "No big deal." The little lines around his eyes tightened as he said it. Obviously, it was a big deal. “It started raining and the girls left. The road was slick. Muddy. Car drifted off the road and right into a tree. This huge branch pierced right through the windshield like it was nothing. Where Noah was sitting, in the passenger side.”
Molly's breath stilled in her chest. How horrible. For Noah.
And for Cord and his friends to have been a part of it.
Cord's expression was tight, and he looked off to the side. "We were so far out of town, it took forever for the ambulance to reach us. He was airlifted to a trauma center, but…”
She couldn't bear to find out. Couldn't bear not to. Had Noah died?
He shook his head tightly, as if he could read her thoughts. Or maybe was just lost in his memories. "He lost his sight. Had scarring across his face. We ruined his life."
Oh, Cord. Her heart ached for the man, for what he carried.
"But he lived," she whispered. "Is he still—?"
"He moved away for a few years,” Iris said. “But he’s been back a long time. He lives across town. But he's a loner. A recluse. Jilly and I tried to reach out for a while. For a long time.” This said with a rueful smile. Then Iris shook her head and shrugged helplessly.
Iris had her hand extended again, the horse considering the apple. "Why don't you tell her the rest?"
Molly's head bounced back to look at Cord again. There was more?
He was frowning deeply, watching Iris with the horse.
When Cord didn’t speak, Iris did. “Noah and his mom didn’t want to press charges, but the local police wanted to make an example out of Cord.” She cleared her throat. “Since he was driving.”
Something in the way she said it... Molly knew she wasn't telling the truth. Or the whole truth, at least. Was that about Callum, the name that Cord had done everything to gloss over?
Cord stared at the horizon, his eyes narrow and his walls up. "Mackie got me off. I didn't serve time."
But the damage had been done. She already knew his grandma had been hard on him. What would the old woman have done, have said, when this terrible event had happened?
"You lost your scholarship, though," Iris said.
That very first day, Molly had teased him about being a football player. She couldn't have known what he'd lost.
Cord shrugged. "I left. And didn't come back."
Until now.
