The Hawks_A Novel
Page 34
Cole: Fine. I met someone. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell you yet.
He met someone. I smiled.
Sarina: Who is she? Do I know her?
Cole: Raven Abernathy.
The name sounded familiar. And then it hit me.
Sarina: Is that your boss’s daughter? Cole! You’ll get yourself fired from Raven Creek. Is she even eighteen?
Cole: Nineteen. I know it sounds bad. But it’s okay.
Sarina: I’m just worried about you.
Cole: Stop. Don’t worry. I’m happy. And I’m okay. My life has been fucked up for so long. As a kid. With you. And losing Ty almost destroyed me. But I’m finally better. And it’s because of Raven. She cares about me. More than anyone ever has I think. At least it feels that way.
I almost cried reading his message. I just wanted him to be okay. To find someone who made his life better and appreciated him. My fingers shook as I typed a reply.
Sarina: If you’re happy, then I’m happy for you, Cole. And I know Tyson would be too. I’m glad you’re okay. But I’m not going to stop worrying about you. Take care. I can’t wait to meet her.
Cole: Thank you. And you take care of yourself too.
Placing my phone in my bag, I looked back out at the blue sky and turquoise water until I found the familiar shape of Javier in the distance. Life had moved on for all of us. Even Cole had found someone to love him the way he deserved to be loved. I wanted to say things had turned out perfectly for the two of us. The way it was meant to be. But I’m not sure I’d ever truly feel that way. I had a Ty-shaped hole in my heart and I knew he did too. Nothing would ever feel completely perfect. But I’d learned to breathe with the pain. Learned to smile with it. Learned to keep moving.
Tossing my hat to the side, I got up from the blanket and walked toward the water, feeling the sand bunch between my toes—velvety and warm from the sun. I kept going until the ocean covered where my black bikini hung low on my hips. I went out a little farther until I reached where Javier had been swimming.
I never got tired of seeing his face. I’d wondered how it would be living and working with him. But in so many ways, everything just flowed so easily between us.
He smiled. “Did you have a good nap?”
“I did.” I leaned up for a kiss.
“Te amo,” he whispered against my lips.
“Yo también te amo.” I loved him too. More than I ever thought possible.
Javier lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He walked deeper into the water as I held onto his shoulders. His hands shifted. I laughed as he threatened to drop me. I flicked a handful of water up at his face. And then he dunked me under with him. We emerged, facing each other in the ocean, grinning and laughing. He kissed me. And I tasted salt on his lips as his arms pulled me against his chest.
That terrible night had changed us all. None of our lives would ever be the same, but we didn’t have to let the bad prevent the good from rising up from the ashes. Like Granddaddy always said, there’s a darkness inside all of us. The hole is deeper in some than others. But we had a choice—let the tragedy eat up our soul or walk away into the light.
And we had chosen the sunshine.
First, thank you so much for reading The Hawks. This story has been brewing for close to five years—some parts much longer. People always ask me if anything about my books are true. Technically, the answer is no. I have a vivid imagination. But with this story, I did have some inspiration.
This book was a combination of three separate ideas that I put into one story: the eccentric boss, the hostage situation, and the tunnels.
When I was in college, I was a Gal Friday for a retired woman, Mrs. X. No, she wasn’t wealthy like Mrs. Hawthorn. Just eccentric. In The Hawks, a version of the letter-writing scene is true along with the poison oak incident.
On my last day of work, Mrs. X wanted us to clear out the fence row behind her property that was adjacent to a creek. I said it was full of poison ivy. We had a pretty heated argument. And then proceeded to clean it out anyway, hauling away all of the “vines” in a wheel barrel.
Afterward, I left for Colorado and drove two hours up in the mountains away from any towns. And I woke up completely covered in the biggest poison ivy rash I’d ever experienced in my life. The cabins had a tiny store, but they didn’t have any medicine for poison ivy. So I looked around and bought a container of oatmeal. And twice a day, I coated my whole body in an oatmeal paste for a week while cursing Mrs. X.
The tunnels are another part of the book that fascinated me. They actually exist. I did take some liberties and inspiration from urban legends. But Tulsa does have a tunnel system like many cities—some public and some closed off.
Factually, the first tunnel was constructed by Waite Phillips back in the 1930s. Rumors still float on the why. But it’s said that after the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, he was afraid of something happening to his family. So he renovated the top floor of his downtown high-rise building into a penthouse and then moved his family inside and built the escape tunnel.
The other public tunnels between the buildings were built later. The original tunnel still exists and is not open to the public. While I was working on The Hawks, I did go on a special tour of the closed tunnel. And this is something I added to the story that’s true. While I was in the old original tunnel, it started shaking from an earthquake so I had Sarina experience one too.
Do any of the tunnels go to people’s houses? I’m not aware of any. There are all sorts of urban legends about them. I came up with the idea of the tunnel connecting to a few of the old houses. The real tunnels do run between old hotels and bank vaults. So I tied my fictional “house” tunnel into them.
That’s a little background on some of the plot points. Thank you again for reading. Without you, this book is just random words. Love it or hate it. You took the time to read it. So thank you. And I need to extend an additional thanks to a few people.
My husband John who always supports my writing and the eccentrics that go along with it.
To the blogs and bloggers: you go above and beyond for indie authors. I know we sometimes drive you crazy. But you keep reading our stories. And talking about them. And reviewing them. Thank you isn’t enough. Just know that I sincerely appreciate everything you do. And a special thanks to Bianca at Biblio Belles Book Blog who looked at my cover design when I was about to go crazy.
To my super beta readers: Kelli Delp and Tracy Justice. You have gone above and beyond rereading drafts and giving valuable feedback. And loving both Javier and Cole in this book. Haha! So many thanks!
To my beta readers, Ann Woodall, Beth Cochran, Bonnie Polak, Jen Sager, Kimberly Brower, Kirstie Davis, Patty Tate, and Olya Clark. Thank you for reading the first draft and having discussions with me on plot. Hope you liked the 30,000 words I added because of you.
To everyone who asks me, “Are you writing another book?” You have no idea how much that means to me. I appreciate the fact that you are either excited to read something else I’ve written or just excited in general. Those little inquiries inspire me to keep typing. So thank you.
To my editor ninja Shayla Raquel who deciphers my made-up words and cringes at my excessive use of twisted and survived my track changes. This is your five-star Yelp review!
And if you remember, the book started with a Shakespeare quote about fool’s gold, so I’ll end it with one from the Bible: “And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15).
It’s those you share it with.
Take care and much love,
SDH
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