Last Of The Good Guys – Chapter Twenty-Two
San Diego International Airport
San Diego, California
Late Saturday Afternoon
Bobby watched Rachel exit the arrivals gate a few hundred feet ahead of him. Tanya walking alongside her hand in hand. It seemed to him that his daughter held on to her like Rachel was mom. It’d been a long time since he’d seen her hold on to someone beside himself.
He favored his bad leg, putting his weight on a cane they’d bought in an emergency clinic somewhere in the middle of Texas. It was a clean wound; the bullet had passed through without tearing up any bone, just a little muscle. In fact, he’d come out of it in better shape than Rachel – her arms and part of her neck slightly burned when she’d pulled Tanya out of the car the night before. Bobby supposed that kind of thing could get the two of them a little closer.
He didn’t have too much trouble spotting Jimmy, the biggest, meanest looking man at the arrivals gate. He watched the bodyguard wade through the crowd to Rachel and Tanya, and saw the smile break out on him as he got to them. It took Bobby a few seconds to catch up to them.
“No questions. Okay?”
Bobby was just close enough to catch the words.
“Okay, boss. No questions.”
“Jimmy, I’d like you to meet my brother.”
Jimmy turned and held out his hand as Bobby got to them.
“Nice to meet you Robert.”
Bobby took his hand and pressed it, smiling like he’d been called Robert since the day he was born.
“Nice to meet you too, Jimmy.”
“There’s someone else I’d like you to meet.” Rachel said as she pulled Tanya back to give everyone a view of her. “My niece, Tanya.”
Jimmy looked at Rachel and Bobby simultaneously. “Didn’t know you had a little one, Robert.”
Bobby watched Rachel and Jimmy exchange looks. “No Questions, boss.” Jimmy said it like he was repeating a mantra.
With that said the three of them followed Jimmy’s lead to the car.
“Your friend Sunny’s quite an impressive fellow.” I owe him a lot Jimmy. She said it while Jimmy was doing the door for her. “You don’t know.”
“Oh yes I do Ms Rachel. I talked to him.” He smiled that big smile as he closed her door. “Said he had a lot of fun.”
Bobby sat in the front passenger seat of the Mercedes. Little Tanya sat in the back, holding Rachel’s hand as they watched the Pacific ocean roll by on the coast highway.
“This is a big water, Rachel. Can I swim in it?”
“Sure Sweety. We’ll get you the prettiest bathing suit you ever saw.”
Bobby heard the small talk between the two of them as he watched the water move by him. So much had happened in the past week. One minute he was looking for a little work, then he’s fighting for his life, and a few minutes later he’s riding a Mercedes beside a different ocean some thousands of miles away. At least in retrospect it all seemed like minutes to him – like a pebble making ripples that take on a life of their own, he thought.
The sun was just getting ready to settle into the ocean when they pulled onto the driveway of the beach house. Tanya had fallen asleep on Rachel’s lap. Jimmy picked her up gently and headed for the house while Bobby struggled a little getting out of the car with his bad leg.
“I’ll tuck this one into bed and then Jimmy and I have to get back to the city. Everything you need is here. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Rachel looked at Bobby for a few seconds. Something in her eyes said she liked them, both of them – something said it was time they got a break and she intended to see to that. She put her hand behind Bobby’s neck, pulled him down and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Okay, brother of mine. It’s nice to have my family home.” She smiled their secret at him as she turned to follow Jimmy into the house.
Bobby didn’t even hear them leave. He’d taken himself out to the deck and gotten immersed in the quiet roll of the waves as the sun slid imperceptibly out of sight. He sat there for some time, watching and remembering everything as it played back on some giant dark screen in the sky. It was a lot to process. He remembered Gomez and the Lady more than anything else. He thought he could see the Mexican smiling at him from the stern of the Lady as she sailed off into a distant heaven.
There was another Mexican he owed a visa to and he would see to that, Rachel had told him she would take care of it.
He took the minute for one silent prayer to whoever was listening before he stood up and headed off to check his little girl, asleep in their new home.
He stood at the foot of her bed for a long moment. It was a nice fit, he thought – you never know what God intends.
Maybe good guys don’t always finish last.
*
