Page 2 of Shine On Oklahoma

His hair was mostly white, but streaks ofcarrot-stained yellow still showed through. That was what told Daxhe wasn’t in the wrong room, those faded orange streaks. Only heused to have a lot more of them.

When did he get so old?

Dax sank into a bedside chair and rememberedthe last time he’d spoken to his father. He’d admitted that he’dtaken money from the Aurora Downs accounts to give to a beautifulcon artist for a kidney transplant she didn’t really need. He’dpaid it back, thanks to a loan from a friend. But that hadn’tmattered to his father. He’d fired him on the spot, called him sixkinds of idiot, and disowned him.

That had been eighteen months ago.

Mom was sure he’d been sorry after. Shethought Dax ought to come home and talk it out. But he knew better.Dax had apologized three times, deeply and sincerely, in voicemailsleft on his father’s cell, because the old man wouldn’t take hiscalls. But admitting he’d been even a little bit wrong was beneaththe great man. In fact, sitting there, Dax couldn’t recall everhearing his father apologize to anyone in his whole life. Still, hewished they’d made peace, him and Dad, before it came to this.

“I thought there’d be more time.” Dax said itsoftly, turning away, blinking back tears. He focused on themonitor instead of the man, studied its wavy lines and numbers asif he had a clue what they meant.

“Nowyou show up.”

Dax turned fast, saw that the old man’s eyeswere open, watery and bloodshot, the white parts tarnished. “Dad.”He moved closer, patted a big hand with his own. “I’m here.”

His father grimaced, then his eyes fellclosed. “I thought so, too,” he said.

“Thought what, too?” Dax recalled his ownwords. “That there’d be more time?”

His father nodded.

“It doesn’t matter now, Dad. It’s all good,all is forgiven.”

Those dull eyes popped open with near violentforce and his head came right off the pillow. “Forgiven?”There was no mistaking the disgust in his voice. Then he let hishead fall back onto the pillows again. “Nothing is forgiven. Ithought there’d be more time to change my will. Too late now,though.”

Dax stood up slow, knowing now that thiswasn’t going to be the moment he’d wanted it to be. No mending ofthe rift, no healing moment, no tender goodbye. He was stupid tohave thought it could be like that. Then he took a deep breath.“I’m sorry about what I did. I honestly thought Kendra’s lifedepended on it.”

“She played you.”

“It’s what she does.” He shrugged. “I thoughtyou’d want to make peace with your only son before you died. Ithought you’d want a chance to say goodbye.”

His father closed his eyes. “Try not to fuckup my legacy like you fuck up everything else.”

It stung. It shouldn’t have. He’d hardenedhis heart against his old man years ago. And yet it stung. “If youleft it to me, you can forget it. I don’t want it.”

His father’s eyes opened a little wider. “Yourefuse it, it goes to the SRA.”

“I don’t care. Let the State RacingAssociation have it.”

“But your mother…”

“Owns forty-nine percent. I know. She can dowhat she wants with her half. It has nothing to do with me.” Hestarted to turn away, but a hand gripped his wrist with surprisingstrength. He turned back. His father’s face wasn’t white, it wasred, bordering on purple, his eyes bulging.

“She’ll go to prison.”

Dax widened his eyes. “What did you do,Dad?”

“SRA…the books…” He relaxed all at once. Hiseyes fell closed.

Dax swore, and bent over his father, claspedhis shoulders. “What about the books? Dad! Dad!”

His father didn’t reply. His face didn’t lookstrained anymore. It was relaxed. Dax shot a look at the monitor.Its lines had gone flat.

CHAPTER TWO

Four Days Later…

“Hey, Dax. How you doin’?”

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