Oh, come on, we both had that feeling when Karl saw the poker chip that he recognized it. We both had our doubts that this was real and not just a way for Karl to make a new life for himself here. Don’t we all at some point dream of a fresh start?
As O’Malley sat with Karl on the side of the mountain, he mulled over his cougar’s words.
No was his answer. He was the sum of all his experiences. Without those experiences, he would not be the man he was today. A man who had found his mate and who wanted to build a future with her.
The bar. It was time to make some phone calls. It was time to go back to his old life. The pilgrimage had changed his life, but only his personal life. His business life remained the same. He wanted to open his bar, a place where people could come together and drink and talk and feel at home.
“I have to make a call.” O’Malley jumped down from the boulder and took the satellite phone from his pocket.
“Could I ask you for one favor?” Karl asked before O’Malley walked away.
“Sure, name it.” O’Malley swung around and faced Karl. The man looked troubled for the first time since they had arrived.
“You had a chip in your hand last night.” Karl chewed the inside of his cheek. “Can I see it, please?”
“Sure.” O’Malley put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a chip. Leaning forward, he handed it to Karl.
“Thanks.” He flipped it through his fingers just as O’Malley had last night. “It feels familiar somehow.”
O’Malley watched Karl, recalling the long nights of poker during their downtime. Karl would often sit and stare at his cards while flipping a poker chip through his fingers.
“Thanks.” Karl closed his hand around the chip and then held it out to O’Malley.
“Why don’t you keep it?” O’Malley backed away. “To remember us by.”
Karl nodded and stared at the chip while O’Malley walked away.
He sighed. Had he done the right thing giving the chip to Karl? It might be enough to jog his memory.
If it does perhaps that is Karl wanting to remember. It’s not as if that’s a bad thing, his cougar said as they walked away from the boulders and stood looking out over the mountainside below. No one said Karl should not remember.
True. O’Malley pushed Karl from his mind and dialed the number of the bar. It rang and rang. He’d have thought Axel would have been there by now. They were due a soda delivery today. O’Malley glanced at his watch. The delivery was due in half an hour.
Maybe he should call back nearer the time.
“Hello, O’Malley’s.” Axel’s familiar voice eased O’Malley’s fears.
“Hi, it’s me. I was just calling to see if everything is all right.” O’Malley swallowed down his apprehension. He’d been so focused on Hannah and finding Karl, he put the bar to the back of his mind. Now it was time to refocus and hope everything was all right.
“Yeah. Everything is fine,” Axel answered.
“Why am I not convinced?” O’Malley asked.
“There was an issue with the water,” Axel admitted.
“What kind of an issue?” O’Malley groaned inwardly. This could be bad.
“A leak. But we have it under control.” Was Axel telling O’Malley the whole truth?
“Will the bar be ready for opening night?” O’Malley paced back and forth across the mountainside as he waited for a reply. The longer the wait, the worse it was.
“We should be. Jake has offered to send his men up to help…”
“It’s that bad?” O’Malley raked a hand through his hair.
“Not that bad,” Axel replied. “And it’s nothing I can’t handle. An old pipe burst overnight. I have the pipe fixed so now it’s just about drying the place out.”
“The new floor?” O’Malley pictured his new hardwood floor all buckled and swollen.
“I got to it in time.” There were voices in the background and Axel covered the mouthpiece as he spoke to someone else. “I have to go. Don’t worry, we’ll be ready.”
“Okay. Look, I should be back in the morning. So just do what you can until then.” O’Malley wished Kelos could come and pick them up right now, but it was impossible. He couldn’t fly until after dark. Then they would have to wait for him to get here. Then they would have to fly home.
The distance seemed to stretch out between O’Malley and Cougar Ridge.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t worry.” With that Axel ended the call, leaving O’Malley wishing he could capture some of Karl Norton’s serenity.
Chapter Twenty – Hannah
Hannah walked the mountainside but didn’t stray far from the enclave. O’Malley might not be able to see her, but his senses would pick her up and that gave her comfort.
At least physical comfort. Emotional comfort was a lot tougher to find.
Her brother was lost but found.
He was here, she could reach out and touch him, even though he would find that weird since he had no idea who she was. Yet Karl Norton, her brother, was gone. In his place was a man who was happy, who had found the woman of his dreams, and who was going to be a daddy.
She had no right to steal that future away from him by making him confront his past.
She raked a hand through her hair, which was in desperate need of a wash.
It wasn’t as though Karl was a mass murderer trying to escape his crimes. All Karl was escaping from was a life unfulfilled. At least that’s the guess she’d made as to why he’d decided to walk the pilgrim’s path at all.
Hannah sat down on the ground, her knees bent up to her chest. Karl’s life mirrored her own. Unfulfilled. But that could be said of many people on the planet. You got by day by day. You lived, you smiled, you found ways to be happy. Or at least to not be unhappy.
Not everyone had the luxury of taking off
