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Otto was worse than Kane. Getting information out of those two was like pulling teeth. After spending nearly a decade with actors and performers, I was so used to people who loved storytelling; they loved being the center of attention; they were the stars of their own lives; and everyone else was just a supporting cast; it was an adjustment being around people who didn’t like to talk about themselves.
“Well, she asked if I made a wish. I told her I wished I knew her name, and she smiled and said that it was Margie. Then she asked what my name was, and I told her. I asked her if I could walk her home, and she nodded. We took the long way back to her mama and daddy’s and we ended up sittin’ on a swing on her folk’s porch until the sun was comin’ up.”
“What did you guys talk about?” The hopeless romantic in me wanted every detail.
“Everything and nothin’. We talked about our lives growin’ up. We talked about our dreams and our fears. We talked about our favorite ice cream, religion, politics, and our plans for the future. She was headed off to college, and she made it mighty clear that she had no plans on ever getting’ married. No, sir. She was never gonna be any man’s wife. Nowadays, no one would blink an eye at that, but back then, things were different. Gettin’ married and having a family was expected. But she was the independent type, ya see.”
“But you convinced her?” I asked. “To marry you?”
“Nope, no convincin’ about it. I figured she’d made up her mind, and who was I to change it? But that didn’t make no difference to me. I loved the girl, and there was no changin’ that.”
“So, what happened?”
“Well, before I left that porch, I asked her if I could write to her, and she told me that I better.” He smiled, and even though he was looking in my direction, I knew it was his Margie he was seeing. “So, I did. I wrote her a letter every week for two years. And she wrote me, too. She told me all about her studies, her family, and her work. Her folks didn’t have two dimes to rub together, so she worked two jobs while she went to school. So, she’d have enough to get by on and send money home to her mama and daddy.
“When I got back, I was on leave, and I went to visit her up at college. We went to the pictures, we went to dinner, and we took long walks around the lake. Sometimes we’d drive out to the ocean and lay on the sand, lookin’ up at the stars. For two months, I saw her every day. We talked and laughed and maybe did a little smoochin’. Then, I got the papers lettin’ me know I was gettin’ stationed in Texas. When I showed her my orders, I told her I didn’t want to leave her. She just smiled and said, ‘Well, then you had better ask me to marry you.’ I did, and we went down to the justice of the peace the next day. We were married for fifty-two years before she passed.” He sighed and looked out the window. “I asked her once what made her change her mind about getting’ married. She said that she didn’t have a choice because love, true love, is like a shooting star; it lights up dark nights and makes all your wishes come true.”
“Wow, that’s… beautiful.”
“That was my Margie. Beautiful.”
I sniffed back emotion as I got out of the truck and grabbed the wheelchair from the back. Otto had stopped giving me a hard time about using it, which I appreciated. As I pushed him up to the rehab center, I wondered if I would ever have what he and Margie did. A shooting star love.
24
KANE
“He didn’t know whether he should scratch his watch or wind his butt.” ~ Miss Dottie
A yawn claimed me as I sat in my patrol car across from a house that we’d been watching for eight weeks now. Hudson’s tip had come in over two months ago. We’d seen activity but still hadn’t laid eyes on the big player.
Stakeouts were not as exciting as people probably thought they were. It was a lot of waiting, which was boring and tedious. Just like police work, at least in a small town, that was mainly paperwork and dealing with noise complaints, random vandalism, petty thefts, and speeding tickets.
We hadn’t had a lot of drug issues in Wishing Well, but the new player had expanded his territory into Clover County, and there had been an uptick in emergency calls, overdoses, and crime. We’d been able to pick up low-level dealers, but nothing that made a dent in things. I was happy to be part of the team working to cut the snake off at its head.
“How’s things going at home?” Sam asked.
“Good.” I took a sip of my third energy drink this shift.
I should have spent my night off catching up on sleep, but instead, I’d spent it in bed with Ruby. Not that I regretted it. At least not for my lack of sleep. I still wasn’t sure it was the best thing for us to be doing, but honestly, there was something about her that I couldn’t resist, and apparently, she felt the same way.
Another yawn claimed me, and I shifted in my chair.
“Playing house wearing you out?”
I knew that Sam was fishing for information. He was trying to deliberately provoke me into being defensive or giving some sign that there was something going on with Ruby and me. The entire town had been talking about it. I wasn’t an idiot.
“How does Remi feel about you playing house with his sister?”
Sam was a few years younger than me, but he was a good football player who had made the varsity team his freshman year, so he knew Remi, who had been on offense with him. I wanted to ignore his questions altogether, but I knew if I did that, he’d just keep poking the bear until he got a roar.
“Remi asked me to look out for her. That’s what I’m doing,” I maintained as I took another sip of energy drink.
Sam chuckled. “I bet you’re taking real good care of her.”
“What about you? I heard you went home with Kenna the other night.”
“I didn’t go home with her. She had a flat tire, so I gave her a ride. I don’t think of Kenna like that.”
