Jackson

I pace the small trailer where I have far too many memories. Esther sobs in the chair.

“They’re gonna kill her.”

 Stepping over her I tower as I growl. “No one will kill her. You just gotta tell me what the fuck you know.”

Esther never looks up at me. A woman I once snuck money to. A woman I once respected, honored, and loved as a mother sits in front of me a broken mess.

“She’s in Chicago painting.”

Collector and the group make their way inside after making sure everyone was okay.

“Made some calls. The local boys in blue want in. Can’t stop that, but this is our head start. We got four minutes to hit the road or they’ll be on us.” Collector explains. “And that’s pressin’ it. I got a buddy gonna let us get away and make statements later, but they got multiple calls.”

“Where?” I bark at Esther knowing time is running out.

“Peony Paints,” she sobs. “Please bring my girl home.”

I don’t make a promise I can’t keep so I don’t reply. I can’t make Michele come home with me. After all she didn’t believe in me when I needed her most.

With the odds stacked against me, my wife should have been my safe place to fall. I get it. I understand why. She was so caught up in emotions, losses, and was pulled in so many directions it was hard to see clearly. I don’t hate her for it.

I just don’t know how to handle her being alive.

We take off when we hear the sirens in the background. With a plan to separate and then meet again in Kentucky I let the open road be a balm to my broken soul.

**

Two days later

Chicago is a shithole.

Maybe for people who like cities it’s not. As a man who grew up in the south in the fresh air, the smog, the congestion, none of it does anything for me, except make me want to jump out of my skin.

Leaving X and Judge back at our motel in Chicago with the women, Deacon, Trapper, Collector, and myself sit on our bikes in front of a store.

The brick building is like every other one on the street. It sits attached to two more store fronts with an alley separating it from the next building. The front is glass windows and doors that are covered in black and red drapes making it impossible to see in. There are three levels to the building and deciding I needed to see more, I climb off my bike with Deacon flanking me while Trapper and Collector remain in the front.

To the side of the building I see the fire escape for the top two floors. Below that is a mural covering the entirety of the side of the building’s bottom floor. The colors draw me in and the vivid scene in front of me takes me back.

The sky is multiple shades of yellows, oranges, and reds as the sun comes down behind the lake. Taking Michele by the hand I lead us through the gazebo and to the end of the dock.

We’ve been through so much in the two years we have had together. With my graduation from high school fast approaching I know she’s worried about me leaving her behind.

With the sun going down behind us, I turn her to face me. Pressing my lips to hers, I kiss her with all the love I feel but for some reason haven’t said. When her hands come to relax around my waist, I pull away.

“Michele Elizabeth Forbes, I know you’re worried because we’re young. I brought you here because I want you to remember this place, this moment.” She smiles up at me behind hooded eyes. “The very colors in the sky don’t match the colors you’ve brought into my life. I love you and I’m in this for the long haul. You, me, forever.”

I kiss her before she can speak. When we finally pull away, she’s breathless.

“You, me, forever,” she whispers with a huge smile on her face.

The painting on the brick in front of me is the same sunset on the very dock where I promised myself to her.

Just as I get ready to round the front, I hear the window on the second floor slide open and see a woman climb out onto the fire escape balcony.

My heart stops.

The world ceases to move.

The wind no longer blows.

I can’t breathe.

The woman just a mere floor above me is a ghost.

My wife stands within feet from me and I’m frozen in place.

Michele is here.

Michele is alive.

And my only thought is Michele is mine.