Sean doesn’t say anything, just lets me talk, eating his breakfast and watching me.
“The night she died, she went to a last-minute dinner with my dad. She wasn’t supposed to go, and I was here. We spentmonths planning, I had a place off-campus I was staying at in Atlanta. I don’t know what changed—maybe she’d just had enough—but we got her a bank account and she funneled her own savings into it. Enough to start her off. She had a teaching degree, and a decent résumé. She just hadn’t worked since Dell and I were young. She was going to freshen it up and had finally gotten everything sorted out.”
I shake my head, my eyes filling with tears.
“All she had to do was make it through that dinner with his work colleagues, then when he got home and went to bed early like he always did, we were going to leave together. She already had the divorce papers drawn up, and she had all her favorite things packed.” I lean back in my chair and look at him. “She was excited to start fresh. She had a new sort of gleam in her eye that I hadn’t seen before. But that night I just waited and waited. They never came home. The police said … the man was wearing a cut, but the witness couldn’t see which club, they just saw him taking off on a bike and it was dark. I wouldn’t be surprised if my dad did something to bring this to them.”
“With the gambling?” Sean asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know, maybe.”
“He’d have to owe a lot for them to kill him.”
“Three hundred grand?”
“That could do it.” Sean moves his chair closer to me and wipes the tears from my cheek, then places his hand on my face. “Some clubs demand loyalty to earn their rockers, to patch in. Killing innocents is one way.”
I nod. “It makes the most sense. My parents were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I’m sure.”
“Our club would never do that,” Sean says firmly. Strangely, I believe him.
“They still have no idea who did it. Just a police sketch. I just wish I knew why.” I swipe my tears away and steel myself,looking down at my half-empty plate. The Tylenol has kicked in and my headache is thankfully subsiding.
I glance at the clock and then back at Sean. I have to be at the clinic in an hour.
“This must be worlds away from your life. Your mom said you’ve always been a part of the club, even as a boy,” I say sincerely.
“My father was the previous president’s enforcer for a while, and then his Sergeant at Arms. My grandfather was an enforcer.” Sean folds his napkin perfectly in half and leans back in his chair. “My mother stayed even after my dad died. He was hit by some drunk college kid. She kept the club as her purpose because that’s what he would’ve wanted.”
I breathe out a sigh. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
Sean shrugs. “It was ten years ago. I still miss him and his guidance, but he died the way all of us hope to. On his bike. It was his time.”
“Was he in the military too?” I ask as I sip my juice.
Sean nods. “Both my father and my grandfather served. My grandfather in Vietnam and my father in Desert Storm. I knew it was my future but I didn’t do it the way they did. I didn’t start out as a boot. I joined as a Second Lieutenant.”
“How?”
“I earned a degree.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “From Duke.”
My mouth falls open.Damn. I did not expect that. “Duke?”
He looks up at me. “With honors.”
I shake my head and blow out a breath.
“What?” he asks, setting his mug down.
“I just, I mean, I didn’t …” I feel the blush of my assumption creeping into my cheeks. “You surprise me, is all.”
“Life is all about making smart decisions. Calculated choices. I knew they wanted me, I knew it would be a free ride.” He shrugs. “I remember things.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I know you’re smart, andsometimes it seems like you never stop thinking.” It’s something you notice about him almost right away.
“It’s not about being smart. It’s my memory. I’ve been told it’s photographic. I remember faces, names, text, formulas. School just came easy to me.” He says it like it hasn’t always been a blessing.
“That must have been hard when you came home from overseas?”
