Point Hope

by Kristen James

  “That night, the night Amanda died—”

  No one gasped or even breathed, but some kind of sudden, sharp, and focused energy cut the girl off.

  This was about Amanda. About that night.

  “I was out looking for my lost phone along the highway and it was dark…” She pulled in a breath, then another, but it still wasn’t enough to go on. She didn’t need to. The entire scene unfolded in Trey’s mind. Looking at Rosette, with tears running down her face, he knew she understood it all too. It looked like Sarah would have stopped right there, but Summer folded her arms and stared her down. “…and I saw a turtle on the road—”

  “A turtle? Are you serious? Are you fucking serious?”

  Trey threw a hand in front of Summer to stop her.

  A second passed. “I just wanted to move it out of harm’s way. The car came so fast. I didn’t even see the headlights until they were right on me, right in front of me. I didn’t have time to react. The car went flying off to the side…and it was all over. I freaked out and ran. I don’t know what more to say… I am so very sorry.”

  Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. The word echoed around in his head so loudly he thought maybe everyone could hear it. Sarah would be sorry for the rest of her life. She might never outrun the guilt.

  He could hear his heart beating, his pulse thumping through his limbs, his jagged breathing. The pain was a huge, throbbing mass: boom, boom, boom.

  “We have to call the police,” Summer declared, glaring at Sarah through tears. Her words jolted Trey back into the room.

  Sarah’s eyes grew wide, her nostrils flaring as she shook her head. Then, in a flash, she turned and sprinted out the door before anyone could react.

  Alex called her name once.

  “We need to go find her, don’t you think?” Rosette asked, rising. Trey was right beside her. She looked at Alex to say, “Stay here with the kids.”

  “And Hope?” He looked panicked.

  “You can handle it.” Trey clamped a hand on his shoulder. “We won’t be gone long.”

  “You’re not taking the car?” Alex talked while following them out the door of the room and toward the church’s main exit.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Trey answered, pausing. “We might need to.”

  Alex watched them go and suddenly yelled, “Drive safe!”

  It was so strange for him to tell them that. He was scared, really scared, that something could happen to them. Why had that never occurred to him before? He’d already lost his mother first, then father, then brother and sister-in-law; a horrible thought that Trey and Rosette would be next terrified him. Trey threw a glance back. “It’ll be okay, Alex. We’ll just check on Sarah and come right back.”

  Outside, Trey pointed both ways and Rosette understood. She ran one way while he ran the other, circling around the church. There were a few people around, but no sign of Sarah. They met in the back parking lot and walked through the cars, searching for her there too. At their car, Trey said, “We can do a quick loop around to see if we spot her.”

  Rosette nodded. They jumped in on opposite sides. “Think there’s any chance we’ll see her?’

  He pulled away, thinking this was a real-life needle in a haystack. “We should at least try, don’t you think? She just might need us.”

  The mix of sun and rain made an awful glare, but Rosette forced herself to look for anyone walking—or running—on the shiny sidewalks. She wasn’t sure this was logical yet she felt a need to look for Sarah. Her cell phone rang and she almost ignored it, but she glanced and saw it was Alex.

  “Summer took off too,” he said. “Sorry, I couldn’t stop her. I think she’s going to the police station.”

  Oh, crap. Trey overheard Alex’s voice and put on his blinker. “I’ll head over.”

  They didn’t talk as he drove. The tension in the car was too loud already. Rosette continued to watch the sides of the street but didn’t really expect to see Sarah. Maybe she was looking for both girls. Rain continued to fall, big drops in places, sprinkles in others, and spots of sunshine danced in between. Only a few people were out, which made it easier to search.

  A horn and tires screeched suddenly. The car swerved to the side.

  Gasping, or screaming, Rosette braced her hand on the dash, despite the seatbelt suddenly squeezing her. Trey let loose a string of words she didn’t hear too often.

  Time paused, the way it does when you’re at the top of a swing, about to come down. Rosette slumped in relief. They hadn’t hit the other car. It’d been close, but everything was fine.

  Then they were moving again, and Trey pulled the car into a small parking lot. She felt like she needed to say something, but shouldn’t, at the same time. She just looked at him. Trey looked back with solemn fear and shock. “He was so worried we’d get in a wreck…”

  What in hockey stix was he talking about? Oh. Alex had said that. He had said to be careful.

  “We’re fine,” she said unsteadily. “Stuff like that happens. Even fender benders happen. We’re perfectly okay.”

  Trey nodded and stared out the front window. She didn’t want to lose him now; she needed him in the here and now. “Trey? I can drive, but we should go check the police station.”

  “No.” He put the car in reverse. “I’ll drive.” He pulled out and drove directly to the police station. This time they weren’t watching the sidewalks. Rosette had a feeling in her gut they didn’t need to.

  As Trey steered the car into the police parking lot, she spotted a young woman walking toward the front door of the police station. “Wait. That’s not Summer.”

  “It’s Sarah!”

  What was Sarah doing here? Did she know Summer wanted to turn her in, and she planned to stop her?

  Trey parked and Rosette jumped from the car. “Sarah!” she called.

  Sarah turned around, but she didn’t look surprised to see them. Rosette jogged over and heard Trey right behind her. “Why are you here?”

  Sarah looked down. “I don’t want to live with this over me anymore.”

  She was actually turning herself in. Rosette shook her head, surprised at the tears stinging her eyes. She glanced to Trey, looking for guidance, but he was looking the other way. At first she thought he was thinking something over, but he wasn’t; he was watching Summer stride into the parking lot, headed straight for the front door of the police station. Set on her mission, she was almost to the door before she realized the three of them were standing there. Summer pulled up short, gasping, her eyes full of questions as she looked at Rosette. That look changed to cold accusation as she glared at Sarah. The confusion came back just as quickly, though. “Why are you here? And you two? Did you make her come?”

  “No,” Trey said, putting a hand on Summer’s arm through her coat. “We were looking for both of you, and we saw Sarah here. Listen, Summer, this is serious. We need to think and talk before we rush in there. Once any of us talk to the police, lives are going to change.”

  “Lives have already changed! People died. My sister is dead. She’s gone and her baby will never know her.” Summer’s voice grew louder with each sentence.

  Sarah broke down crying, covering her ears. Rosette wanted to step closer and put an arm around her, but she felt so torn. Summer needed their support and for them to be on her side. She glanced at the police station, hoping no one would walk outside and notice them. If they knew that Sarah had caused Amanda’s death, and they didn’t do anything, wouldn’t that amount to being accomplices?

  Trey’s jaw worked back and forth. She knew him well enough to know what he was going through. Legally, they had a responsibility to turn Sarah in. She had caused an accident that caused a death. And then she ran off, leaving questions and doubts, along with an unborn baby who could have easily died.

  “Look,” Trey said, holding his hands out. “It’s not going to help Hope or bring anybody back to turn her in.” He looked at Rosette. Did he want her to jump in and agree with him? Or was he playing the devi
l’s advocate and wanted her to argue for turning Sarah in? She didn’t want this on her. She just stared back at him.

  Sarah looked up, glancing at each of them.

  Summer shook her head in disbelief. “I had to pay. I just went along with my boyfriend and his friend, and then someone died. It wasn’t my fault. I shouldn’t have even been there, but it happened, and I went to prison to pay for being there.”

  Trey touched her shoulder. “Is that what you want to do to Sarah?”

  “It’s the right thing to do!” Summer shoved his hand back.

  “I’m so sorry!” Sarah cried even louder. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t live with this popping up. Over and over and over. Every other second it hits me—what I did. What I caused.”

  “Okay, stop!” Trey held a hand out at Summer and Sarah.

  What Trey didn’t see, but Rosette did, was the flicker of understanding in Summer’s eyes.

  “Like you’re going along fine when suddenly, wham!” Summer abruptly said, her voice finally mellowing slightly. “It’s like you hit a wall you didn’t see, and then that wall is all you see. Every day, every single moment, you see that wall.”

  Sarah made a noise. “Like the guilt is always there, waiting to hit you again.”

  Summer’s anger was quickly dissolving into a broken heart. Rosette could understand how Summer wanted to hang on to that anger to cover the pain.

  “It’s just so unfair,” Summer whispered. “All of it is.” She looked Sarah in the eye.

  The sunlight faded and raindrops splattered down. “Let’s get in the car,” Rosette said. Summer and Sarah looked at each other, but they both followed Trey and Rosette back to the car and climbed in the back seat. Silence filled the inside of the vehicle while water thudded the outside.

  “So now what?” Sarah asked.

  Trey cleared his throat. He must have been thinking while they were standing outside the police station. “This is different… If a driver hits a pedestrian and runs, it’s a crime. But pedestrians have the right of way. I don’t know what where the law would place blame here, or if it would see a crime at all.”

  “But it’s my fault,” Sarah said; then she spoke softly to Summer in such an emotional voice that Rosette couldn’t make out the words.

  She did, however, hear Summer’s reply.

  “You didn’t go there to do something bad. I guess that’s the difference.”

  Trey reached up to the ignition, where the keys still set, and started the engine. “Where do you live, Sarah? We’ll take you home.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rosette walked by the open office door and noticed Trey standing near the desk. She leaned in to see him pensively looking at a photo in his hand. She walked closer to look. It showed Trey and Ricky as kids, with a cute little puppy stretched out across their laps.

  “That’s so sweet,” she murmured. “Maybe we should enlarge it, and hang it up somewhere.”

  “I’d like that. Maybe in here.” He set it down on the desk, angled up against the pencil holder. Then he glanced at her and smiled, despite the sadness on his face. “Can we walk on the beach together, like we used to?”

  “Okay.” Rosette grabbed a light sweater and called out to Summer before they left. They walked outside into a sunny but windy day, down the steps, and out on the beach, where he took her hand. They walked in peaceful silence for several minutes. Rosette broke it by commenting, “Alex is going back to school tomorrow. Jake and Candice too.”

  “I wonder what Summer plans to do,” he said, more idly than worried about it.

  “She does freelance writing on her laptop. I didn’t even think to ask her until the other day when I went in the trailer with her.”

  A minute later, Trey said, “Alex asked me if I believed there is a reason for everything. I explained carefully about what I believe, and I tried to tell him sometimes there’s a gift even in something bad. Like a silver lining in a cloud. We lost Ricky and Amanda, but it helped me find myself again. It pushed me to fight for us and to keep our family together.”

  This was the kind of communication she’d been longing for. She teared up and looked at him, unable to talk.

  Three seagulls landed nearby and began chasing each other. The wind was a bit strong, swirling the sand, but neither Trey nor Rosette noticed.

  “It still kills me inside that they’re both gone; I’m not saying I’m happy about that.” He came to a stop and looked out toward the ocean. She stepped closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. The tide was coming in, the waves slowly getting closer with each push. “We’re part of each other, Rosette. It’s not just about the kids. It’s about us. What we’ll be even after the kids are grown.”

  His arms tightened around her. This is home, she thought.

  “Alex said something to me recently,” Trey paused. It must have been important. “It was about considering a different job. Has he talked to you about it?”

  “No, that’s all Alex.” She laughed.

  “It made me think. A lot actually. Maybe he’s right, and I don’t have to go up against something that’s slowly strangling me. I’m trained to be an EMT, but after all I’ve been through, maybe it’s not the job for me anymore.”

  She hadn’t thought about this before, and yet it was so obvious.

  “What else would you do?” she asked, then suddenly changed course. “That’s getting way ahead of things. I didn’t mean to stress you out.”

  “Do you want another adventure, Rosette?”

  “What?”

  “You have so many ideas in that notebook of yours. Business ideas. Trip ideas. You’re already selling carvings. It wouldn’t be that hard to start something new together. Do you want to?”

  She laughed again, surprised at first, but the gears started turning, then spinning rapidly, and ideas were flying everywhere. “Yes, yes I do.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Singing woke Rosette. It was early, but light outside. That didn’t mean much since it was almost May; the sun rose early. She had to be dreaming, though. Everyone was singing, “Happy Birthday,” and they weren’t due for a birthday for another two months. Plus it was Saturday. People knew better than to risk their lives by waking her up early—Hope wasn’t even crying. As the singing grew louder, she pulled the blanket off her head.

  Trey stood at the end of the bed, holding a birthday cake. A birthday cheesecake, by the look of it. The candles were lit, and they were all singing to her.

  Rosette rubbed her face. “Um, Trey, you know it’s not my birthday, right?” Her face grew red, awkward for him over the mistake.

  He grinned. “And you know I’d never be able to surprise you on your actual birthday.”

  He’d meant to do this? She scooted up as he brought the cheesecake over. Maybe being awake wouldn’t be so bad if she got cheesecake for breakfast. Candice and Jake looked beside-themselves giddy. “What good secret keepers you two are,” she praised them. They took that as an invitation and crawled up into bed, one on each side of her. Alex and Summer were also standing at the end of the bed, with Hope in Summer’s arms. Trey edged onto the bed to hold the cake in front of her.

  “I can’t believe you put all these candles on there,” she said, covering her face in fake embarrassment.

  “Yup. All twenty-nine,” he said. She loved that man. “Make a wish and blow them out.”

  What would she wish for now? She looked down, about to pull in a deep breath, when she noticed something twinkling in the middle of the cake, surrounded by the burning candles. A ring. A big diamond ring. “Trey…?”

  “Will you be my bride again, Rosette? I hear it’s very romantic to confirm vows on the beach.”

  Now she covered her mouth in sheer shock. Overflowing love. Bubbling joy.

  “And you can make all your friends jealous because you still fit in your wedding gown. Heck, I know you’ll look even better this time. Or you can get a new dress. Whatever you like. What do you say? Will you marry me a
gain?”

  “Say yes, Mommy,” Candice whispered.

  She swiped at her happy tears while laughing. “Yes, Trey, I’ll marry you again!”

  Jake clapped. “Now you can blow out the candles. And wish for a kitty cat.”

  She glanced down at him.

  He lifted his little shoulders in a shrug. “They have bald cats. A bald cat wouldn’t make Candice sneeze.”

  “True.” Alex said. “Or a lizard.”

  Rosette looked back to the candles, wondering if Trey’s arms were getting tired. He didn’t look annoyed about waiting. His eyes were shining with love. It made them darker, deeply promising.

  “Maybe,” Trey said. “We could all wear white to the wedding.”

  She closed her eyes, different wishes coming to mind: I wish for success with our new restaurant. I wish for health and happiness for my family. I wish for many more days and years just like this one.

  She pulled in a breath and blew out every last candle.

  The End

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to my editor, Carol Teegarden, for going above and beyond to provide feedback and a much-needed critical eye for details.

  As always, thank you to my family and friends for your support and encouragement! I’m amazed my husband and kids show such excitement for my writing when they hear about all things writing, all too often, I’m sure.

  And of course, a huge thank you to all my readers. I love the emails and comments! Thank you so much for reading my work and connecting online.

  I’d also like to thank Kendra Morris-Jacobson, Director of Oregon Programs OARE and ORPARC; Toni Ferguson, Lead Family Support Specialist; and Amanda Vega at Vital Records. These ladies took time to research and discuss answers for me about what would happen when an orphan baby is born at a hospital, and what procedures would need to happen for a family to take such a baby home. Through them, I learned quite a bit about adoption that helped with this story, increased my understanding of the emotional aspects, and provided even more information that I might use in future writing. They shared these links with me as well, which you might find interesting: