Chapter 10 - The First Light
I slammed the Audi’s heavy driver-side door shut, hitting the central lock.
Through the pristine, heated windshield, I looked at Leo Vance standing in his thin Italian shirt and trousers on the frozen shoulder of County Route 9, shivering violently under the cold moonlight, surrounded by thirty miles of dark pine forest.
I put the vehicle in drive.
The winter tires bit into the black ice, pulling the heavy SUV smoothly onto the center of the asphalt.
Valerie sat in the passenger seat beside me, her hands wrapped around the warm travel mug of coffee I’d handed her, the heater blowing warm air over her face. She looked out the side window as her father shrank into a tiny, pathetic figure in our rearview mirror.
She didn't cry. She didn't ask me to stop.
She reached across the leather console, her small, calloused hand finding mine, her fingers locking tightly around my knuckles.
"Where are we going, Mom?" she asked softly.
I looked down the long, open road ahead. Far in the distance, past the dark ridges of the state forest, the first faint violet streaks of dawn were beginning to break over the eastern horizon, painting the sky in shades of gold and soft crimson.
"We're going to Atlanta, sweetie," I smiled, squeezing her hand firmly. "We're going to get you a new pair of rowing shoes, a warm breakfast, and then we're going to start our lives."
May you like
Behind us, in the fading shadows of the dark woods, the red taillights vanished forever.
Ahead of us, the morning light was finally here.
