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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’m afraid so. No horses about when she was growing up. Her mother grew up on a farm though—maybe she got the special touch from her.”

“Detective, it took my son months to form a bond with that horse and your daughter managed it in only sixty seconds. Whatever she’s got, she sure got it from somewhere.”

49

49

The mood was quiet as they left the ranch. Kevin steered the car out the gate and drove well below the limit, both hands on the wheel, eyes ahead, not because the road demanded it but because he was finding it hard to concentrate. A wild thought had tumbled into his head. Precisely where it had come from, he couldn’t say, but it had him so excited that he had to tell Amy all about it. After coming down the hill, he swerved onto the shoulder, brought the car to a stop, and switched off the engine.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Amy, I need to talk to you.”

“I know what you’re going to say, that it was dangerous and dumb of me to get so close to the horse and that I could’ve been hurt, but I was only—”

“No, that’s not it. You saw something wrong and you took action. I’m proud of you. You did the right thing.”

His praise caught her off guard. “Oh, thanks. What is it, then?”

Kevin stared at her for a moment, tapping the steering wheel with a hesitant smile, which only heightened Amy’s curiosity.

“This might sound crazy,” he said after a long pause, “but what would you say to a change of scenery?”

Amy squinted back at him. “What kind of change?”

“The permanent kind.”

Her confusion intensified. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about doing what your mother always wanted to do—selling the house, getting out of the city.”

“Um, and where would we go?”

“Well, you know that ranch we were just at?”

“Yes . . .”

“The bank is foreclosing on it. The owner, Mr. Porter, is moving out in a few weeks.”

“And . . . ?”

“And I think we should buy it.”

Amy reacted with a slow, facetious laugh. “Very funny. What’s the punchline?”

“There isn’t one. I’m being serious.”

She studied his face, but his expression wasn’t budging.

“Wait, you are being serious . . .”

“Imagine it, Amy. Imagine living in a place like that. It was stunning, don’t you think?”

“Of course it was stunning—it was amazing—but we’re two hundred miles from Portland. Our lives are back in the city.”

“That’s the whole idea.”

“To what, run away?”

“No, to start afresh, something new, to embark on a project that you and I can work on together.” Kevin could tell by the look on Amy’s face that she was probably trying to gauge if he was joking or downright nuts. “It’s crazy. You think it’s crazy.”