Page 13 of Before We Say Goodbye
“You’re getting married, Bec?” Hunter pumped Otis’s hand with unrivaled enthusiasm. “What a lucky guy.”
Rebecca slipped her arm through Otis’s. “Hunter and I went to high school together in Santa Rosa.”
A note of curiosity entered his voice. “Yeah, everyone wondered what happened to you. You didn’t even make it to the graduation party.”
Rebecca shook her head, instantly drawing a dark cloud over her. “I couldn’t take it anymore. Skipped town that day.”
“Yeah, I get that. By the way, I’m sorry about your brother. It’s heartbreaking.”
Rebecca dropped the smile and let go of Otis. “What ... what happened to my brother?”
“You know, coming home like that.”
“Like what?”
Hunter froze. “Wait, when’s the last time you were home?”
The temperature of the restaurant plummeted as she struggled to speak. “I haven’t talked to my family since I left in May. What happened?”
Otis had detected that she didn’t have the best relationship with her family, but she hadn’t shared many details.
Hunter swallowed and scratched his temple. “You know he went to Nam, right?”
“Vietnam?”
The guy clearly wished he hadn’t opened his mouth. “Yeah. He was hurt, Bec. Bad. He lost his legs.”
Rebecca’s eyes fell closed.
Hunter’s stout posture sank. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.”
The three of them stood there quietly, both the men looking at Rebecca, waiting for her to return to them. Otis attempted to take her hand, but she pulled away.
“Look, I know that’s big news. I’m going to go. You know I’m here for you.” Hunter offered her a hug.
Rebecca allowed a quick one and then whispered inaudible words as he departed.
Otis wrapped an arm around her and guided her out of the restaurant and into the fog. For the first time since he’d met her, Bec broke into an awful cry that Otis could feel at his core. She wept for a long time, and when she was done, she said, “I have to go home.”
Otis had already put that together. “We do, you mean. I’m coming with you.”
She pulled him closer, tighter. “Yes.Wehave to go see him. It’s my fault, Otis. I ran off. I can’t imagine what he felt like, abandoned by his sister.” Her words broke apart.
“You ran away?”
She nodded into his shoulder.
Ah, this was that part of her that she kept hidden, protecting it like a diary. How deep did the mysteries of this woman go? What else didn’t he know? Taking her home would certainly peel back some of the layers. As strong as she was, he wondered what was to come. A brother injured in the war. Parents who hadn’t seen their daughter since the spring. And here comes Otis, the man she would soon marry. He could hear the rumble of emotional thunder, and he hoped with all his heart that he would be strong enough to endure. That he could be the man she would surely need when the time came.
Chapter 4
A Mannequin in the Window
As they drove across the Golden Gate Bridge in a friend’s borrowed clunker, Otis took her hand. “It’s going to be all right.” Wise words from the bozo behind the wheel who couldn’t find any meaningful way to ease the pain.
Rebecca hadn’t said much since they’d learned of her brother’s misfortune the day before, but she let Otis hold her hand, and maybe that was what was important. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. She didn’t even look like the Rebecca he’d come to know. She’d opted for jeans and a T-shirt and scraped her curly hair back in a ponytail. No jewelry, no glitter, not a sparkle anywhere.
She’d told him more about running away, how she’d left a note on the counter, then slipped out the door and jogged south with her thumb in the air, eventually hitchhiking to San Francisco. She had written letters to assure her family that she was alive and well, but didn’t mention her location or offer a way to make contact.
