Page 14 of Daybreak

Holly was still coming down from the shock of his mouth on her lips and allowed the use of her old childhood nickname to pass. “Yes, soon,” she said.

He opened her door, waited until she was seated and buckled in, then gave the top of her car a quick tap as she closed the door and drove away.

He knew he’d just come to a personal crossroad. Now all he had to do was figure out where to go from here, and if she was willing to go with him.

Chapter 3

Holly was so elated that she felt like bouncing. She glanced at the time as soon as she got into the car, noting that it was just shy of 9:00 p.m. She couldn’t wait to tell her mom that she’d just had dinner with Gunner Kingston. But when she didn’t get an answer, she guessed they were probably busy outside somewhere and decided she’d try later. Instead of leaving a voicemail, she disconnected and took her exit off the Loop and headed home.

She was still smiling about her chance meeting as she began bringing her groceries into her town house and putting them up. She was on her way to the bedroom to change clothes when her phone rang.

She looked down, saw her dad’s name on Caller ID instead of her mom’s, and frowned. “Hey, Dad, what’s up?”

She heard the panic in her dad’s voice, but he was so choked up and rambling that she couldn’t understand him.

“Dad! Dad! What’s wrong? I can’t understand what you’re saying!”

Then suddenly her younger brother, Travis, was on the phone. His voice was shaking. She could hear her dad sobbing in the background and felt the ground falling out from under her.

“Sis, it’s me. Mom is dead. She was a quarter of a mile from home when a truck came over the hill in the middle of the road and hit her head on. Please come home. Dad’s coming undone, and I don’t know what to do.” And then he broke down in sobs.

“Oh my God, oh my God,” Holly mumbled. She wanted to scream, but she could tell from the sounds in the background how bad it was.

“Travis! Listen to me! I just got home. It’ll take me about thirty minutes to pack some clothes and notify my boss. Just know that I’m on the way. Who hit her? What happened to that driver?”

Travis’s voice was still shaking. “It was Lee Peters, my best friend. We’d gone to Amarillo this morning, and he’d just dropped me back off at the ranch. He was on his way home. He’s dead, too.”

Holly’s legs went out from under her. She dropped into the nearest chair to keep from falling.

“Oh, dear Lord. Travis! I can hear it in your voice, but none of this is your fault. Call Granny Dillon. She’s just across the border in New Mexico. She’ll get there before I will, but I’m coming, honey. I’m coming home. Tell Dad I’m on the way. We’ll get through this together. I love you.”

“Love you, too, Sis,” Travis said and hung up.

Holly was shaking so hard it was all she could do to make the call to her boss, Gene Morris. Even as they were talking, she knew she was sounding like her father, rambling, shattered, not making a lot of sense as she began to explain to him what had happened, and that she had to go home.

After extending his sympathies, Gene reassured her that her job would be waiting, and to take as long as she needed.

The moment they disconnected, she began dragging out suitcases, then dragging them up the stairs to her bedroom, tossing clothes at random, sobbing between every breath as she dragged them back down and loaded up her car. She set the security alarm at her home and headed northwest out of Dallas. It was a long drive to the panhandle of West Texas. A long, sad way to go, knowing her mother would not be there to welcome her home.

* * *

Gunner was still thinking about Holly Dillon long after he got home, and was stretched out on his bed, scanning through texts and updates from Cliff. The TV was on in the background when he heard the word “lottery” and remembered tonight was the night for the Mega Millions draw. The amount was over seven hundred and eighty million dollars, so he turned up the volume just in time to hear the announcer.

“.…winning lottery ticket was sold at a Gas and Dash just off the bypass. Somewhere within this city, there is a man or woman carrying around a seven-hundred-and-eighty-million-dollar lottery ticket. Check your pockets, folks. Someone’s life is about to change. The winning numbers are posted at the bottom of the screen, and also on the Texas Lottery website.”

A shiver ran up Gunner’s spine as he rolled out of bed and reached for his wallet. He pulled out the ticket he’d bought at a Gas and Dash, read the numbers posted on the screen, then looked at the numbers on his ticket.

“No way,” he muttered, then took a picture of the numbers on the screen and reread the numbers on his ticket again, and felt the blood draining from his face. “Sweet lord,” he whispered and put his head down to keep from passing out from the shock.

His head was still spinning when reality hit. Until he got this ticket to the Texas Lottery Commission, it meant nothing, but for his future, it meant everything. He put the ticket back in his wallet. He put the wallet under his pillow, got his gun from the lockbox and put it beside his pillow, too, and then got up and walked through the house to recheck the windows and doors, making sure his security system was armed. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the amount of money, because in reality, there wasn’t a soul on earth who could know who was holding the winning ticket. Still, his heart was hammering as he went back to bed, but he couldn’t sleep.

Everything about his life was in sudden free fall. He sat back up and sent a text to Lieutenant Samuels, telling him he was taking a personal day tomorrow, then called his lawyer.

The phone rang four times, and then Gunner heard the call pick up.

“Hello?”

“Bradley, it’s me, Gunner. I need legal help in the morning. Are you free?”