Five yearslater
The three ofus are parked outside the federal prison, sitting in the bed of my truck, eating hero sandwiches.
Herc is shaking his head at me. “You didn’t have to get a sandwich cut three ways. You could have ordered three meals.”
Through a mouthful of pepperoni sandwich, I inform my best friend, “You’re eating it, ain’t you?”
Cass playfully swats me on the arm, then says to Herc, “He probably thought it would be more special if we ate the same sandwich as a team. You know his sense of humor.”
She’s right. I wanted the three of us to share one sandwich. “Your dad’s a free man today. Things are going to go back to normal. I wanted something symbolic,” I explain.
Herc rolls his eyes. Cass presses a hand over her heart. “This is why I love you.”
“Normal?” Herc asks. “I don’t think we were normal in the first place.”
Cass agrees with a shrug. She catches my eyes falling to the ring on her finger, which was my grandmother’s. I wear a cool braided band we found on our honeymoon in Mexico last year, after we waited to finish school before getting married.
Her father insisted that we go ahead and get married and not wait until he was out. Cass had wanted to wait so he could be a part of it. But I think Mr. Treadway was worried that if we waited, we might break up, like Herc and his girl did. Herc and his dad made amends a while ago, and he’d wanted to wait, but his fiancé didn’t.
Still, I think there’s hope for them. You never know.
Cass wraps up her mostly uneaten sandwich and guzzles water instead. “I’m so nervous; I can’t eat anyway.”
She reaches for my hand, and I’m right there.
Our fingers lace together, and she breathes, “I hope he’s okay with staying in a tiny room at our condo, at least for a while.”
Herc reassures her, “He’ll be fine with anything. He understands he’ll have to start over.”
The sun is an orange glow behind the trees, and the sky is clear. It’s going to be a clear day.
He’ll get a fresh start. I rub my hand over my tummy and whisper to the little bean growing inside.
“Everybody deserves to start over.”