Page 75 of Weatherman

My ears refused to hear.

I was shutting down to get away from the news I was sure was about to come.

Brick moved in front of me. “Opal. Listen to me.”

No, no, no, no,no!

“He’s hurt bad, but he’s alive. They airlifted him and his partner to the big hospital in Asheville. He told the rescuers to make sure you were told so you won’t worry yourself. I’m gonna get Betsey an’ we’ll wake up Natalie an’ tell her.”

Air rushed into my starved body as I took a full breath. Then another one. And another one. My vision cleared. It was Dodge who supported me.

“You still need to sleep, darlin’. You go take you that nap for a couple hours, okay? Fauna said she wanted to cook for you, and I think now is a good time. She’ll get you fueled, and we’ll all go to Asheville after you’ve rested and showered, yeah? We got DRMC people there, too, and we’ll get them updated and on-site ASAP. He’ll have family around him until we get there.”

I sniffed, this time crying tears of relief. “I don’t think I can ever repay this.”

Dodge smiled down at me. “The bill’s been paid a long time, sweetheart.”

EPILOGUE

“You’d thinkas much as we pay in taxes in this county, they’d put in nicer bleachers for graduation. My back will never be the same.”

I smiled at Burna Jones’s complaints as they floated around me while I worked on her hair. I’d lived in this town just over four years now, and Pearl was starting kindergarten in a few more months. She ruled the roost at preschool with her sassiness, and I expected her to do the same in “big” school.

“The caps and gowns they had weren’t worth a plugged nickel.” Burna sniffed. “My Hilda can do so much better than those cheap flimsy things.”

I spread more of the black color onto the woman’s roots as I attempted to distract her. “I understand Hilda got into the Savannah College of Art and Design.”

The older woman preened, and for a moment, I saw a smile flash across her face. A brief one. “Don’t know why she has to move so far away from home. We got perfectly good colleges ’round here.”

“That’s true, but that school is one of the best for fashion design. Plus, the grant she won will pay for nearly all the tuition there. Win-win, right?”

Other random bits of conversations floated around me as life continued to move forward.

“Tourists done flooded the town for the July Fourth holiday.”

“I tried to get a table at the Smoky Mountain Bistro, and the wait time was almost two hours.”

“My son got a job there washing dishes. Loves it.”

I exchanged glances with Tambre, who had Fauna in her chair. I enjoyed working with the restaurant owner’s corkscrew curls, but my boss was the master at the tight braids Fauna loved so much.

It amazed me how many changes I’d come through over the past few years.

Kimmie returned to her life in Minnesota. I heard from Mama J that she made a brief appearance at the Dutchmen MC compound and left again on the back of a nomad’s bike toward California. That was the last anyone saw her. I hoped she found her path in life and healed herself somewhere.

People still talked about the fire that burned up so much of the forests, but to look at them now, it was hard see any damage. Scorched trees had grown back, and the black scars were covered in bright green again as the mountains healed themselves. Deer, bear, and other wildlife returned to reclaim their territories. The weather cycled through seasons. People came and went. Kids grew up, and we moved forward.

Pastor Robert still preached to his flock at his church on Sundays. He’d met and married a woman who matched him perfectly. She directed the choir for him and personified the helpmate he needed. They made a great-looking couple, and I was genuinely happy for him.

The bell rang as another client came into the salon. “Hey, Opal. I know I’m early, but I’ll just sit a spell until you’re ready for me,” Natalie said. The cancer was in remission, but she’d decided she wanted to live her life in the fullest way possible.In other words, she didn’t give a rat’s ass what people thought of her. When she worked at the bank, there’d been a dress code she’d had to follow. Now she didn’t care and had me color her hair to whatever suited her mood. Pink, blue, teal, and now bright purple.

“I’ll be right with you, Nat.” I glanced at the clock and smirked. There was another reason Natalie was early to her appointment.

At exactly four thirty, the door opened, and a little blonde tornado rushed in. “Mommy, I drew a picture for you!”

Pearl drew pictures for me every single day, but her excitement in giving them to me never waned.

“Oh, how cute! Is that a horse?”

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