“But if he’s not allowed to surface, then how can the second find his truth?”
“One truth at a time, Merc. One truth at a time.”
I don’t know what to say after that. I could ask about the others. Adam and McKay. But I don’t care about them. So instead, I say, “How’s Nick?”
Sasha shakes her head a little. “I’m following him. But from a distance. I said one year, he gets one year. But all reports point to Wendy being just fine. She’s always been the sensible one, though, hasn’t she?”
“The one who refuses to remember that she violently killed what amounts to her father? That Wendy? She’s the sensible one?”
Sasha chuckles. “It’s relative, I guess. But if anyone has a chance at a normal life, it’s Wendy.” I must have a look on my face, because Sasha puts up a hand. “I get it, OK? I’m not being flippant here. I understand your concerns. But we have two choices in this life, Merc. Just two. How much love do we give and how much support do we offer? Sometimes it’s so crystal-clear who deserves our love and support and who doesn’t. Other times, we follow our hearts. My life has never been clear. I follow my heart all over the place. And maybe, one day, I’ll regret that. But then again, maybe I won’t. We only get one round, ya know? Just one chance to live a life. And the whole thing goes by so fast. A blink, really. We get nothing but a blink.”
Her gaze wanders until she finds each of her kids again. Then she finds Jax.
“It’s all so temporary,” she says. Then her blue eyes find mine. “And one day it’ll be gone and we’ll just be alone. So stop questioning everything, Merc. Enjoy it. No matter how bad things get, there are always blessings. Count your blessings.”
Then she gets up, walks over to Jax, takes his beer from his hand, wraps her arms around him, and they slow-dance. Even though there is no music, they slow-dance.
I can’t silence the echo of her words inside my head. Because she’s right.
One day, we might be sick again.
But on this day, we are cured.
EPILOGUE - NICK
It’s a big day for two reasons. One, it’s been one year. Which means my time is up. And two, we have a “thing” scheduled.
Right after I gave Adam his message from Sasha, I put Wendy in my truck. Fuck this shit. That’s all I could think about. Just fuck this shit. I emptied out her truck, left her keys in the ignition, and we got the hell out of there.
Just like that.
See you assholes the fuck later.
And I guess Adam got over the idea that maybe we’re brothers and we might have some connection or thing going on, because he never called, he never wrote… there was not even a real goodbye.
We haven’t heard from them since and that’s fine. Wendy and I, we’ve got other things happening.
Once we were on the road, I told Wendy about the letter I wrote after Sasha left. I pulled it out of my back pocket—the envelope already creased and bent—and handed it over. “Read it,” I said. “And then we’re gonna talk.”
“What’s it say?” she asked.
“The truth.” Then I looked at her and said exactly what Sasha said to me the night before. “The truth is the cure.”
Wendy nodded her head. Kinda bobbed it a little. Looked out the window for a while. Held the envelope in her hand. Then she said, “Do you have a pen?”
“Glove box.”
She found the pen, scribbled something on the envelope, and then said, “Pull over.”
And that was it. I thought, OK. She’s leaving again. Same shit, different day. Then I rallied. It’s fine. I can do this. We’ll get through it.
Wendy got out of the truck, and I watched her, curious, as she walked over to a mail box. She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled. Then opened the box and dropped the envelope inside.
When she got back in the truck I said, “What did you just do?”
“I mailed myself the letter.”
“Why?”
“Because someone told me once that truth is something you seek, it’s not something that’s told to you. Which is kind of ironic, since you told me that, so I can’t take it as truth. But you gotta start somewhere, I guess.”
I chuckled a little.
“So I’m running an experiment.”
“Ya are?”
“Mmhm. I’m mailing myself that letter because I have that big old mail box, right?”
“Right.”
“So no matter how long we’re gone, it’s gonna get there, and it’s gonna wait for me, same way all those other ones do. Right?”
“Right.”
“So I figure it’s about time for us to go do that whole honeymoon world tour thing, don’t you think?”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting… I dunno. Road trips to libraries. Some yelling and crying about that damn cure. Maybe another stint out to the sunflowers.