BooksBarbecue
Back The Lighthouse Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. PART ONE
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. PART TWO
  13. 12
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 18
  18. 19
  19. 21
  20. 22
  21. 23
  22. 24
  23. 25
  24. 26
  25. 27
  26. 28
  27. 30
  28. 31
  29. 32
  30. 33
  31. 34
  32. 35
  33. 36
  34. 37
  35. 38
  36. 39
  37. 40
  38. 41
  39. 42
  40. 43
  41. PART THREE
  42. 44
  43. 45
  44. 46
  45. 47
  46. 49
  47. 50
  48. 51
  49. 52
  50. EPILOGUE

“I know, but I’m not just talking about the last month. I’m talking about the last eighteen years, years I’ve missed out on because I was never there for you. It’s too late for me to get those years back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start fresh.” He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. “Amy, I want to make you a promise, right here and now, that from this point on it’s all going to change. Everything’s going to change. I’m going to change. And it’s all going to start the moment we get home because the first thing I’m going to do is quit my job.”

Amy looked up at him in shock. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“No, you can’t do that.”

“I can, and I intend to.”

“But, Dad—”

“It’s the right thing to do. It’s time.”

“But it’s too sudden, far too sudden.”

“Not as sudden as you think. I’ve been giving it plenty of thought. It’s a decision I should’ve made a long time ago, I just never had the guts.”

“Dad, you’re good at your job.”

“And I’ll find something else that I’m good at.”

“But it’s your career you’re talking about here. The state police has been your whole life.”

“That’s the point. I don’t want this to be my life anymore. If I keep doing it there’ll be nothing left, and I don’t want that. It’s already taken so much.”

Amy stared out the window for a moment, speechless. “This doesn’t feel right,” she finally said. “I feel like you’re making this huge decision and you’re doing it all because of what just happened . . . because of me.”

“Because of us,” he whispered. “I’m doing this for us. I promise, from now on, everything’s going to be different.”

45

45

Later that afternoon, Amy was given the good news that she could go home. While her dad was signing the discharge paperwork, she visited the restroom to freshen up. She removed her hospital band and gown and shoved them in the bin, changed back into clothes her dad had brought from the hotel, then tied her hair back and splashed her face with water. When she was done, she tore some paper towels from the dispenser, dabbed her face dry, and stood and stared at the mirror.

It was the first time that Amy had faced her own reflection since last night, and she found the experience confronting.

There it is, she thought, her body . . . the same body that had narrowly avoided arriving at this hospital under a sheet and being taken to the morgue.