A Thousand Miles

Part 38

JoLynn managed to hold her tears in check until she was up the stairs and almost to her room. She would not risk Kelly appearing before her and seeing the evidence of her completely broken heart. She had to contain these feelings until they passed. And hopefully they would someday.

She reached her room, closed the door, sank into her bed. Shane's dad had died. And he'd been all alone to bear it. His world had shattered same as hers. But while she'd had Mel and Curtis, her grandmother and even her father to soften the blow, Shane had no one. And she'd clearly heard how bereft he was. He was lost.

JoLynn wiped tears away and pulled the comforter up to her chin. When he'd said he was in Tennessee her heart felt like it dropped right into her belly. She'd almost asked if there was any chance he'd come back to Texas. But she didn't want to lead him on. She didn't want him to think it was an invitation to come back to her. She couldn't predict what her reaction to seeing him again might be.

Forgiveness was easy for her. She had no desire to hold a grudge against him at this point, and with the death of his father, if forgiveness is what he needed from her, if it brought him any comfort at all, then she'd give it gladly. But forgiving him didn't mean she was ready to be with him again. She was still processing the whole ordeal. And it hurt so much to even speak to him on the phone. Standing in front of him might very well break again all the places that were on the mend.

The phone in her pocket gave the quick, buzzing shiver that indicated a text message. She fumbled under the covers to retrieve it. The message was from Shane. It read simply: "I miss you."

JoLynn set the phone on the bedside table and burrowed back under the covers.

She missed him, too. More than she ever thought possible.

*****************************

No time like the present, right?

Shane pulled the last box from underneath the banquette bench and set it on the table. Might as well start clearing the place out. The guy who nibbled on his online ad for the RV emailed back and asked if furnishings like dishes and small appliances were negotiable in the price. Shane uttered a humorless grunt. What was he supposed to do with them?

Anyway, the guy sounded pretty serious, so clearing out the personal stuff would at least keep him busy. It would at least give him something to do other than compulsively checking to see if JoLynn had replied to his text of an hour ago.

He pulled the lid off the nearest box and flipped through the hanging files inside. The documents ranged from papers regarding the sale of their house thirty years ago and the purchase of this RV, to school work Shane had done as a child. The very last file in this box, however, was very full. It contained legal documents regarding the attack that had nearly killed him, and the subsequent settlement.

Shane lifted the folder out and laid it on the table beside the box. Then he opened it revealing the names he either hadn't known, or hadn't been able to remember. What had they done with their lives, these boys who'd had so little regard for his? Shane set the box down and pulled his laptop closer, tapping the screen back on. Then he typed the first name listed—the name of the brother of the girl he'd been so infatuated with—into a search engine and hit enter.

Shane clicked on the most promising link, and up popped a picture of a smiling man, forty or so years old, slightly gray at the temples, a little soft around the middle, who was now the vice president of his father's company right here in Nashville. Another click led him to the guy's page on some social networking site, where pictures showed a pretty wife and three beautiful children. The perfect life.

Anger simmered up and threatened to bubble over. This was no kind of justice. That this guy could do what he did to Shane, and face no consequences whatsoever...that his life now was so perfect and easy...it wasn't right. While Shane fought for his life in a hospital, and then struggled with the trauma of the attack, the very people responsible had forgotten all about it and moved on with their lives. Now they had jobs and money and families, and had probably never given him a second thought.

He dove back into the legal documents in search of the next name and raised his hands to the keyboard, but something stopped him from typing. How could he say those boys never suffered any consequences? They may not have been punished legally for what they did to him that day. But chances were good they'd lived with the less tangible consequences of their actions every day since. He pulled his fingers off the keys.

Then he straightened the papers and closed the folder. Forgiveness couldn't be earned, although he wished it could. It had to be given freely. Just like JoLynn had forgiven him. He laid both hands on the folder and drew in a cleansing breath.

Then he forgave them all.