Lloyd shook his head and smiled. He kissed Elaine one last time, lingering, and then walked over to him. He clapped a hand on his shoulder. “My friend, take care of her.”
“I will.”
“Please tell her this. She wanted a sign. I’ve given her one. She can stop looking for them now. She won’t need any others after tonight.”
Connor nodded. “Just one last thing. Are you okay where you are?”
Lloyd’s smile grew wide, and he held open his arms, as if embracing the world. “I’m fucking awesome.”
With that, he disappeared.
“No!” As Connor shouted, he woke up. His head snapped up so hard he got a crick in it. Rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced at Elaine. Hopefully his shout hadn’t disturbed her.
She was already awake.
Although the room was dark, a soft beam of moonlight hit her window, illuminating her face. She was sitting up, completely alert. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and her lips were swollen. Her blonde hair stuck up in a couple of directions.
She was still the most ravishing thing he’d ever seen.
And she was smiling. It wasn’t a big, toothy grin. Her smile was subtle, barely there. A tease of something other than misery, and it nourished Connor’s soul better than water at the lips of a dehydrated man.
“Elaine. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes watered. “He was here, wasn’t he?”
Connor wasn’t sure what to say, concerned about her reaction to the messages Lloyd wanted him to impart. “Why do you say that?”
She nodded toward the bedspread. An old Polaroid photo lay on the covers.
That was odd. He was sure it wasn’t there before.
Connor sat next to her and picked the photo up. It was tiny but clearly showed Elaine and Lloyd years ago at some sort of party. They both looked so young. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket, and Elaine had a frilly dress on. They were standing under an archway of pink balloons, looking as if they were ready to take on the world.
“This photo is from the high school dance where I met Lloyd. Someone had brought an old camera that night and took pictures of all the couples standing under the balloons. I brought it to Alaska with me. Connor, Ileftit in Alaska, packed up in a box with my photo albums.”
“Are you sure?”
“I looked at it right before I left. I taped it up in the box myself. It shouldn’t be here.”
Maybe his dream hadn’t really been a dream at all. “I think that’s your sign.”
“I think you’re right.”
“He’s okay, Elaine. I hope you realize that. He doesn’t want you to go searching for evidence anymore.”
She picked up the photo. “I have my evidence.”
“He said he was with you, that day with the bear.”
“He always was protective. Thank you for telling me.”
They sat together for a while in silence. She fingered the photo, tracing Lloyd’s form.
“He wants you to move on.”
“I know. It’s just so hard. If I move on, it’ll be like watching them throw dirt on his coffin all over again. If I hold him in my heart, a part of him lives.”
“No one’s rushing you, but you know at some point, you’ll have to give it a try.”
