Page 44 of Keep

“You okay?” Curtis asked me.

He’d been quiet but I hadn’t once felt sorry I’d asked him to come along. It was nice just having someone I trusted at my side.

“I’m fine,” I assured him.

We started moving toward my truck when I stopped and tossed him the keys.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

I caught up with Maria just as she reached her car. She looked up expectantly as I approached.

“You loved him, didn’t you, Maria?” I asked her.

She considered the question. “Yes. Your brother was a complicated man. And a very good one, though he would have balked at the description. I didn’t know everything about him but I knew everything I needed to know. We didn’t have the fairytale relationship that people make movies about but everything felt right when we were together. And you’re right, Dalton. I did love him.”

“I’m glad,” I said. And I was. I was glad that Hale had been loved like he deserved to be. And I was glad to know that my faith in my big brother had never been misplaced.

But as I looked at Maria standing there and struggling not to cry I realized my heart wasn’t the only one that had been broken lately.

“Maria?” I said gently.

She looked at me.

“I told him something,” I said. “The night before my wedding I told him that I was sure he’d find his perfect match. He said maybe he already had. I think he must have been talking about you.”

She closed her eyes and a tear fell down her right cheek. I patted her shoulder as a sob shook her and we stood there under the yellow glare of the parking lot lights, both of us mourning what we had lost.

Maria opened her eyes, gazed up at the sky and smiled before she got in the car.

“He will always be my hero,” she said and closed the door.

I watched her drive away.

“Mine too,” I whispered.

Curtis already had the air conditioning running when I got to my truck. There wasn’t much to say on the drive back to Dream Fields where he’d left his own vehicle. When I called him this evening he’d come over immediately. I would always be grateful for that.

“You heading home now?” he asked me.

I checked my phone. “Nah. Cami’s working late at the paper so I thought I’d drive downtown and watch over her until she’s done whether she likes it or not.”

He nodded. “I’m really happy everything worked out.”

I stared at him, this rough and tough former criminal with a heart of gold. In any other life our paths would probably never have crossed.

“I’m lucky to know you, Curtis Mulligan,” I said. “I meant it back there when I said you were family.”

He offered up a crooked grin. “It’s not every day I get that kind of compliment from a sports legend.”

I scoffed. “I’m not exactly a legend.”

Curtis looked around pointedly at the sprawling Dream Fields complex. It was temporarily quiet but tomorrow it would be buzzing with hopeful kids.

“I think you are,” he said softly. He ran a hand through his short hair. “Look Dalton, I know I’m not your brother. And I know it’s not the same but anytime you call I’ll always answer. Just like a brother would.”

“Right back at you,” I said.

He smiled. “See ya, Dalton.”

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