Page 136 of Other Side Of Never
“And the best,” Hawkley answered.“Remember changing the Hailey’s Falls sign?”
Max laughed.“Or the lawn tractor race?He made a hundred dollars off that.”
I was in tune with them in a way I’d never been in life.No sooner had I recalled a memory aloud, that one of them repeated it.
My thoughts came just as quickly but they didn’t get jumbled up like they used to.I noticed things I never noticed before, like the way Max’s eyes crinkled just before he laughed.And how Hawkley operated on a constant state of alert.
There was laughter, so much laughter.
And pain.
Like an infection left untreated for too long, it simply became part of the new normal.And while painful, it was also familiar to them both by this point.
And they nurtured it to keep me close.
Especially Hawkley.“You need to let me go, now, Hawk.”
He lifted his chin, his eyes open and steady, staring straight ahead.
I stood and moved slightly to put myself directly in his line of sight.With tears in my eyes, knowing this would be the last I would see him, I urged, “You need to let me go, now.”
“Hawkley?You all right?”
My big brother, the one who protected me all my life, turned to our best friend.“I need to let him go.But I don’t know how to say goodbye.”
I tunneled my hands into my hair.There had to be something.
“His life was cut way too short.There was so much he wanted to do.”
“He always had a plan,” Max agreed.“And we were more than willing to go along with most of them.”
“My bucket list,” I whispered.“Hawkley, finish my bucket list.Finish my bucket list and marry Noelle.”
“Didn’t he used to make a bucket list every year?”
“I have it,” Hawkley answered.“Should we do it?”
“Do it!”I exclaimed, even as I fought the pull to return.“Do it!Say goodbye!I love you!”I kept my eyes on him as long as I could.And when I got back, I sat down on my floor, and I cried.
It felt like hours but could have been only minutes had passed when I felt a soft and familiar hand on the nape of my neck.
“Sh,” she soothed.“It’s okay.It’s all going to be okay.”
I looked up in horror.“Aunt Christine?”
She smiled weakly.“Surprise!”
My mother’s best friend and Noelle and Max’s mom, Christine was my honorary aunt.And really, the only one I knew.“What are you doing here?”
She snorted out a laugh.“Really, Hunter?”
I gaped, grateful to see her and guilty that I was grateful.But it didn’t stop me from throwing myself into her arms.
She laughed.“You have no idea how good it feels to be strong again.”
I squeezed her tight for a minute longer before pulling back.“It was bad?”
She grimaced.“It wasn’t good.”
