Page 52 of Pit Stop

Epilogue

Five Months Later

Tillman

I stare at myself in the mirror. I have to admit I don’t clean up too badly. Tonight I’m taking Odette out on an actual date. It’s a celebration of sorts. She just finished up her semester on the high-honors list. She’s killing it at her job at Inspiration Rehab Center. I couldn’t be more proud of her. In between all that, she helps take care of the four boys under the roof of Pit Stop. All the while keeping me on the straight and narrow.

As for me, my investments are still paying off but I have had to go back to Dallas twice to help Zeke with the oilfield company. Luckily, it was only a few days each time. Odette and I spend as much time together as possible. She’s without a doubt the angel of light Axell told me about. My returning to Dallas brought on questions about my past which I was prepared for. I was one hundred percent honest. I told her how I made most of my money and how I invested it to help keep it building. The hardest part was telling her about the death and blood I had seen during my time with the SK, about the night with Decker and Boris, and why I ran.

We had been in bed; she was curled up next to me. I traced lazy circles lightly on her bare back. Somehow I thought the darkness would make it easier. It didn’t. When I got done she sat up and turned on the lamp beside us. Her eyes held so much within them that I couldn’t even begin to decipher. She placed the palm of her hand against my heart. “I'm glad you told me.”

Her words surprised me. “You are?”

Her head bobbed up and down. “Yes, because it was the hardest part for you to let me see which means it’s the part I will love first and the hardest. The past is the past. Those parts you are too scared or ashamed to show helped build the person you are today, and I love him. Every last dark corner and blood-smeared spot.” She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips.

To this day it still feels like a dream. Odette has a way of just loving so fully that you can’t question where you stand with her. She doesn’t shy away from the hard times either. She appears before me in the little black dress and heels. She looks stunning as always. Tonight, we’re going to a fancy restaurant and then a walk on the beach.

Dinner is good and our conversation is light. Things with Odette feel right, and tonight is no different. After dinner we head to the beach. She slips her shoes off and we walk along the shoreline, letting the water wash over our bare feet. She looks up at me. “I have a question.”

I look down at her. The moonlight above is giving her skin a translucent glow. “What’s that?”

“Why does everyone including me only call you by your last name?”

It’s a question that has honestly never crossed my mind, but I do believe I have an answer for it. “For most of my life I was in the system. Every time I saw my folder it just had my last name and first initial. You’re just another name to them. Another name in an ocean of names. It never mattered what my name was, so I just started using my last name for everything. The system already did, everyone might as well too.”

Odette stops walking and looks up at me. “I want to know your first name. I won’t use it, I just want to know it.”

I spin her out and pull her into me. “I love you, Odette.”

“I love you too,” she replies.

Taking my time, I kiss her slowly under the shining moon, with the waves crashing into us. When I break away I kiss up her jawline to her ear and whisper. “Do you really want to know my name?” She nods her head. I can feel her anticipation. “Okay, my name is…”

She pulls back and smiles up at me. “I like that. It suits you.”

“It’ll be our little secret.”

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