Bitter Farewell by Karolyn James Read Free Book Online Page A

be. He was still on the husky side but had grown tall enough to make him look thick and built. Put it this way, Danny wouldn’t want to pick a fight with Jeff in a bar, or anywhere for that matter.
    “What’s funny about it?” Danny asked.
    “Why don’t you grab your bike and we’ll go for a walk.”
    Danny nodded and looked down for his helmet. That’s when he saw the large red stain near the right knee on his jeans.
    “Oh, shit,” he whispered.
    He took a step and felt the pain.
    The shock of the crash and the shock of seeing Jeff must have numbed him for a minute or two.
    “Oh, damn,” Jeff said. “Sit down, man.”
    Danny plopped back down to the soft grass and looked at his dirt bike. He started to laugh, finally feeling alive for the first time since Chasing Cross left the stage at the cancer benefit show.
    Even as Danny pulled up his jeans and felt the rough cloth rubbing against an obvious open wound, he still smiled and tried to laugh. The pain was hell, but it only lasted a few seconds.
    “What are you laughing about?” Jeff asked.
    “Just thinking about being kids again,” Danny said. He looked up at Jeff. “You ever do that?”
    “All the time, man,” Jeff said. “Watching my kids grow up. Digging holes. Collecting worms. Breaking bones. It almost makes me jealous of them. I’m the one who can drive, smoke, drink, do whatever I want and yet I’m jealous of two kids...”
    “It’s the innocence,” Danny said. “It’s the feeling that nothing can hurt you and even when it does, you know someone will be there to fix it.”
    “So true.”
    Danny looked at the damage on his leg. A nice big gash just under his knee, leaking blood like a broken faucet.
    “That needs a little work,” Jeff said.
    “Yeah, I figured that,” Danny said.
    He used the rolled up portion of his jeans to touch the wound and wipe it, wanting to see how deep the cut was. Lucky for him it wasn’t much of anything at all. Just a big cut.
    “Can you walk on it?” Jeff asked.
    Danny stretched his leg out and watched the blood drip. “I’m sure I can but it’s going to bleed the entire ride home. If the bike will start up again...”
    “Isn’t that The Destroyer ?”
    Danny laughed. “Yeah, it is. I was just thinking about that when I found the bike.”
    Danny got to his feet again and felt pain but it was manageable. The only problem was getting back to the house with blood dripping like it was.
    “Hey, uh, Danny,” Jeff said. “I’m not good with this stuff, so let me just say it once. I’m sorry about the old man.”
    Danny looked at Jeff and nodded. “Thanks.”
    “I know you and him always had... whatever... but, uh, it still sucks. I’m sorry about it.”
    “I appreciate that Jeff.”
    “Which brings me to the next uncomfortable point...”
    “Which is?”
    Jeff looked at the broken fence and then to Danny’s bike. He walked to it and picked it up.
    “Doesn’t look damaged,” Jeff said.
    “Jeff, talk to me,” Danny said.
    Jeff opened his mouth as a third voice entered the conversation.
    “Hey! Everyone okay?!”
    Danny looked to the back of the Hartley residence and saw a figure standing on the back deck. He squinted, closed his eyes for a second, then squinted again.
    Can’t be ... he thought.
    “Jeff...”
    “Danny, she bought the house,” Jeff said. “She lives here.”
    “She,” Danny whispered.
    Of course it would be she . The only she that mattered to Danny.
    Danny took a step, ignoring the pain. He took another. Then another. As she came into view, another dose of his broken past started to come to life again.
    “Please tell me it’s her,” Danny said.
    Jeff hurried to catch up to Danny and touched his shoulder. “Yeah, man, it’s her. It’s Liv...”
    Liv.
    The love of his life.
    The one he loved first.
    The one he swore he would love forever.
    The one he left.
    Liv.
     
    **
     
    Liv heard the bikes and for a second thought she was still imagining the sound of them.