Chapter 37
Elijah
I opened my eyes and looked over the bed. I could see Kendall laid at the side of Bo and me had found his spot over the bottom of the bed. He laid there and looked at me and wagged his tale. I sensed he knew the situation now, and he was quite content with the result.
“Morning Bo,” I whispered. “You want to go for a run?” Bo jumped from the bed and headed toward the door.
I grabbed a robe and headed downstairs. I opened the kitchen door and the fresh smell of the morning flooded inside the house. I thought to myself that the warmth and presence of Kendall had returned and the house had once again it became a warm and inviting place to be.
I started to cook breakfast and waited for Kendall to wake. I had just finished cooking when I heard her footsteps as she crossed the floor toward the stairs.
“Good morning,” I said as she made her way down the stairs and rubbed her eyes.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Eight or thereabouts,” I replied as I placed the breakfast on the table.
“Wow, scrambled eggs and toast, a meal fit for a king,” she said with a giggle.
“We have a big day today, there is something I have to do,” I said as I sat at the table.
“I have someone who I want you to meet later, but first, I want to show you the scene of my accident,” I said.
“You don’t look overly excited about going,” Kendall said.
“You are right, I’m not excited about going, but I need to do it for some sort of closure, that chapter is finished in my life, and now I want to look forward,” I replied.
“It will be fine, it’s just a place at the end of the day, there are no demons there, or anything that can hurt you now, what’s done is done,” Kendall said.
She was right. It was just a location. There was nothing there that could harm me. I had no recollection of the accident, so it would be just a space, a space in time where an event happened. It was this event which had changed my life. I could have so easily died, but I recovered and came back as if I had been reborn, and reborn as a much-improved version of myself.
“I’m happy you will be with me today, I’m not sure I could have done it without you, even if it’s just a place. Maybe I would have too much emotion and would be overwhelmed by it all,” I said as I finished my breakfast.
We readied ourselves and headed toward the scene of the accident. We drove the same route I would have taken, and we passed the bar where I would introduce her to Gates later in the day. We climbed the hill, and we approached the road that led to the scene of the accident. I could picture what had happened as the expanse of the road was just too tempting not to hit the gas and drive like a bat out of hell, but not today, today I had Kendall with me, and for once I found, I had nothing to prove.
I drove down the long straight, and as we neared the trees, I could see marks on the road where I first crashed. We parked the car and walked around and looked at the signs of the crash that remained.
As we crossed the highway and looked at all the marks in the asphalt, I held Kendall’s hand, and I could feel her squeeze my fingers as she supported me in my difficult ordeal. The marks from the bike stretched way on before us, and I could tell I had been going at some speed.
We walked along the grass and finally ended up close to the sign which I had come to rest, the mound of dirt which I had hit that broke my shoulder showed signs of new grass growth and within time would only have a distant memory of what happened.
“Well, this is where it happened,” I said.
We stood and turned to where we had parked the car and could see it was a couple of hundred yards away from us.
“Damn, Elijah, how fast were you going?” Kendall asked.
“I have no idea, but I have seen motorcycle crashes on the sports channel, and for this sort of distance, I must have been doing well over one hundred,” I replied as I tried to imagine what had possessed me to do it.
“It’s beyond belief that you came out of it alright,” she said.
“At least the accident led me to you. For that, I’m eternally happy and grateful. So what came from one bad day has led to what could be a lifetime of happiness,” I said as I wrapped my arm around Kendall’s shoulders.
Kendall snuggled toward me as I held her and looked into my eyes, “It’s hard to believe how much things have changed in such a short time. You couldn’t write this sort of story any better,” she said with a smile.
“Very true, bad boy turned good guy, who would believe it?” I replied as we slowly walked back to the car.
“Now then, I have somewhere to take you, and there is someone I want you to meet,” I said as we climbed into the car.
“Who is it? Are we going to your mother’s?” she asked.
“No, a little closer to home, and someone who helped me to realize I had been a dick!” I turned the car, and we slowly drove away from the scene of the accident, forever.
We headed back through the trees and re-joined the main highway back toward the outskirts of town. I could see the gas station in the distance as we approached. I pulled into the parking lot of the bar.
“We are here,” I said to Kendall as I climbed out of the car.
“We are where? I don’t recognize this place at all. There are only this bar and the gas station,” she replied as she looked slightly confused.
“This is the bar where I met the old man, on the day of the accident and last week,” I explained.
I hoped that Gates was going to be in the bar, I had guessed he was a creature of habit and frequented the bar on most days for some solitude as he propped up the bar with his glass of sour mash or a beer in his hand. Maybe having conversations with strangers to pass the time.
He told me I was a dick the first time I had met him, but I had become very different. He was a strange old character who had a big insight into how the world worked. He had a confidence about him. It was like he understood the person who he chatted to. I sensed he had a gift, and this he shared with people, it was like he opened the windows and could see into their lives and their soul.
We entered the bar, and I immediately glanced around, I couldn’t see the old man and my heart sank, I so wanted him to meet Kendall so he could see I had followed his advice.
We approached the bar and could see a glass on the bar next to Gates’s stool. Damn, we’ve just missed him.
The waitress approached us and asked us if we would like to order.
“Just two light beers please,” I said to the waitress. “Has Gates been in today?”
“Sure, he’s still here, he’s just out back having a cigarette,” she replied as she headed off to get our drinks.
“A drink for Gates as well please,” I said as she returned with our bottles.
We sat at the bar, and I was excited to see the look on his face, he was still a stranger in every sense of the word, but I felt like I had known him for quite a while. I saw the sunlight flood into the rear of the bar as the door opened and Gates walked back toward his stool.
“Look what we have here then if it ain’t Sonny and a guest,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Hi, Gates. I’ve brought someone I would like you to meet,” I said. “Gates, this is Kendall and Kendall this is Gates.”
“Pleased to meet you, Missy,” Gates said. “Just call me Harry.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Harry. Elijah has mentioned you a few times. It wasn’t anything but good, I might add,” she said as she shook his hand.
“Well Sonny, I’m glad you took my advice and did the right thing,” Harry said as he raised his glass. “A toast. To life.”
“I did the right thing, Harry. You made me realize I made a fool of myself and I had nearly missed the chance to be with someone so special. Thanks,” I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“She sure is pretty,” Harry said with a chuckle.
“So, Harry, Elijah told me, you thought he was a real dick the first time you met him,” Kendall asked with a cheeky grin.
“He sure was Missy, he sure was. He was so far up himself, you wouldn’t believe, and he was angry, angry at the world it appeared.”
“I understand, I had seen him like that before his accident,” Kendall replied.
“Hello, I’m here, don’t be so harsh on me,” I replied with a chuckle.
“Now, now Sweetie, we are only messing around,” Kendall said as she placed her hand on my arm.
“You are lucky,” Harry said.
“Who is?” Kendall asked.
“Both of you, I can see it in your eyes,” Harry explained. “It just shows, happiness does not always come from money. I should know.” He sipped on his drink.
“Why do you say that, Harry? It sounds like you are talking from experience?” I asked.
“That I’m Sonny, never judge a book by its cover,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Kendall asked Harry.
“I know I may just look like an old man sat in a bar who talks to strangers, but I’m not this character by nature. This was my choice,” he explained.
“Yeah? Keep going. It sounds like there is something behind all of this,” Kendall says.
“You are smart Missy, I can see it. I actually own the largest company in the world and would trade it all in an instant if I could find what you two have going between you,” he said as he smiled.
We chatted more with Harry and finally bid him our farewells. He filled us with things we had not noticed, and he was right.
As we headed home, I looked at Kendall, and I finally realized…
I loved her. So much that it hurt.