Page 69 of Daybreak

“How can you know it’s not something bad?”

She shrugged. “Because I know you. You never could lie. You punched a kid for making me cry once. And you always gave me the biggest piece of your cookie. You’re one of the good guys.”

He smiled. “Best bat girl, ever. Okay… So here goes. You remember asking me about someone finally winning the Mega Millions lottery?”

She nodded.

“So… That was me. My lawyer and I went to the Dallas Claims Center. I told my family, my boss, and now I’m telling you.”

He was watching the disbelief in her face moving to shock, and then unmitigated joy.

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack, darlin’. I chose the lump sum. The payout is a little over four hundred and fifty-eight million dollars. It takes a few weeks for it to show up in my account, but I set up a separate account for it.”

Holly bolted from her chair. He knew she was going to land hard unless he stood up, and he was right. She launched herself into his arms, laughing and crying, and then laughing all over again.

“Oh my God, oh my God. How wonderful for you, sweetheart!”

He frowned. “Well hell, Holly. Not just for me. For us. We can go back to Crossroads without worrying about where we’re going to work. We’ll be close to family again. I’ve already picked out a location to build on. But I’m waiting for the money to get in the bank before I start spending some of it.”

“You were given such a blessing!” she said.

He nodded. “And then the universe decided to make me earn it. Having a bounty put on my head left me wondering if I’d live long enough to claim it.”

“What a nightmare, and all this time you were carrying that concern alone. I’m so sorry.”

“But I’m not alone anymore, thanks to you. And now that Dixon offed himself, the danger to my life is over. I know that, too. So, that’s my confession, but I still need to keep it quiet.”

She nodded. “Done.”

“Thank you,” he said.

She frowned. “For what?”

“For loving me even when I was still a sitting duck,” he said.

Holly shrugged. “Couldn’t help it. I’ve loved you during all the years when half the population of Crossroads was still whispering your mother’s name behind your back. I loved you more after you carried me across the baseball field to my mom and dad after I got hit on the head. I have huge regrets for not being able to remember it. And I loved you all over again when you put Carl Warwick in his place at Mama’s funeral. Money or not, when you finally saw me as a woman and not a child, I could not see my life without you, either.”

“I do not deserve you. But you have sealed your fate with me. I’m a hard man to love, and I know it. I’ve shunned women for years because of nothing more than a lack of trust, and that all goes back to my abandonment issues as a kid. I’ve gone to therapy about it, but it didn’t take…until you. You didn’t just break down the wall I’ve lived behind. You climbed over and made me look at you. I love you, girl, but you’re the one in charge of how fast this all goes. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said.

He laid his cheek against the top of her head and hugged her.

His confession had become their dessert. After that kind of news, the meal was over. They stored leftovers together, cleaned up the kitchen together, and finally returned to the living room to watch some TV.

“What do you usually do in the evenings?” he asked as they settled down on the sofa.

“Watch TV. Sometimes, I read the paper online. Just normal stuff,” she said.

“Are you going to be okay with giving up your job and the big-city living?”

“Lord, yes. When I left work today, I took the old-fashioned way home, driving through city streets to get to my neighborhood because I wanted nothing to do with the Loop. All the way here, I kept thinking of where I grew up, and how we’d never had to deal with real traffic anywhere, unless we were in Amarillo, or on the road to some rodeo or horse show. Crossroads doesn’t have traffic problems. Even Mom’s death had nothing to do with traffic. Are you sure you want to give up law enforcement?”

He shrugged. “When someone wants you dead, and you don’t know who to trust anymore, or who’s safe to turn your back on, then the job loses all of its shine. I know someone in my family needs to be closer to my dad and Pearl. They are fine right now, but with age comes hardships in mobility and health. I don’t want them to be dealing with all that on their own.”

She slipped her hand through the crook of his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. “That’s how I felt about leaving Dad. Travis is going to college this fall, and I couldn’t bear thinking of him in that big house on his own. When I found out Granny was going to come back to the ranch and live with him, it was the best news ever. They’re both happy about it, which alleviates whatever guilt I had coming back here.”