The slender mint green shoulders heaved up and down as if the girl was trying to regain her composure. He waited, not in any hurry to return to the mess inside. Perhaps it was just as well. Maybe the universe was telling him he’d had enough beers for the night.
Just when Jason was about to give up on the silent girl and call it a night, she turned around. Her long caramel hair flying behind her in a cascading waterfall. Luminous almond eyes looked up at him, delicately shining through a sheen of tears. Her fair skin glowed in the evening light.
Jason felt his heart stop and his limbs go numb. He felt like he couldn't distinguish whether this was a dream world or the real world.
“You,” he breathed, feeling the cool night air blow across him.
The almond eyes widened in surprise. The tears that had been so carefully held in check suddenly fell with the shock of the sight before her.
“You,” she echoed, her voice just as shocked.
He hadn’t thought he’d ever be able to see her again. At least not in the waking world. He had dreamt her of her often. She was the only clean thing left in his memories—the beautiful angel that had stopped to give him a moment of humanity and pie. She was the shining beacon of hope from home that wrote him constantly and made him remember that not everything in the world was covered with blood and rage.
And here she stood before him.
And of all places.
Katrina. Kat.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jason demanded, his voice stronger by the sudden fear in realizing it was actually Kat that had been in danger rather than some stranger. He imagined Kat being caught up in that brawl, taking a stray punch or elbow to her face. His blood rushed in delayed panic and fear.
He reached forward to grab her arm, to demand an answer, to reassure himself that she was indeed safe.
But she took a step back, putting herself out of reach.
She looked up at him with a look of confusion but also coolness. There was a wall up around her and he could tell she was being careful to keep it there. “I’m looking for Reggie,” she said defensively.
Jason stared at her, mindboggled. So Al had heard right after all. A stranger had been looking for Reggie. No, not a stranger. Kat.
“What do you want with Reggie?” Jason asked, unable to help himself from looking over Kat from head to toe. It had been two years since he had seen her but even he could tell she had lost some weight. There was a hollowness in her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. And he could dark smudges underneath her eyes that spoke of her lack of sleep.
Something was wrong. Something was causing her too much and stress to allow her to get a proper night’s sleep.
Kat pressed her lips in clear hurry and frustration. “It’s none of your—” she started and then just shook her head. “I need to speak with him. He knows my uncle.”
Uncle Doughy! It brought back a sudden jolt of warmth to hear such familiar names again. Jason almost felt as if he was hearing about family.
“Then he should’ve come down instead of you. Why would he send you to a place like Reggie’s on your own?” Jason demanded. He was sure Uncle Doughy would know what kind of place this is.
Kat angrily brushed a hand through her tousled hair, unconsciously making Jason’s heart skip a beat. “Are you going to take me to Reggie or not?” she demanded.
There was a high note of desperation in her voice. Jason’s eyes narrowed, looking her over more carefully.
“Well, I could,” he started.
Kat sighed in relief. She looked at him expectantly.
“But we’d have to drive a few miles west,” he said. Kat squinted in confusion. “The cemetery he’s buried in is a few miles out.”
Kat’s face immediately fell. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes dimmed in despair. “He’s dead?” she asked softly.
Jason nodded. “He died about a year ago,” he said. He waited before asking, “Why were you looking for Reggie?”
Kat shook her head as she looked down at her feet. “He was…he was an old connection of Uncle Do’s. I had been told that if I ever needed anything….If the time came….” Kat sighed and abruptly jerked her head to the side so she could covertly wipe away a tear.
Raising her head, she looked up with strong clear eyes. “Nevermind then,” she said. “I guess it doesn’t matter now.”
There was a pause between them. Each one looking the other over carefully. Jason could only imagine what she was thinking of him. He remembered how it had all ended.
Kat finally shook her head, as if waking herself up from a reverie. She looked up at Jason, the dark smudges underneath her eyes breaking his heart, and gave him a faint smile that was nowhere near reaching her eyes.