Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(102)

“No, Dad. We were at her house. Her parents were home.”

“She okay?”

“Yeah, she’ll be okay. You haven’t been up all night, have you?”

“On and off.”

“I hope you weren’t worried,” Tom said.

“Not at all, son. I knew you’d be with your girl to the last minute. Unfortunately for you, there’s no time to sleep.”

“I’m not interested in sleep.”

“You will be.” He draped an arm around his son’s shoulder, gave a squeeze and said, “It’s what I would’ve done, too. She’s a wonderful girl.”

“She is a wonderful girl,” Tom agreed, a sadness at leaving her in his voice.

“Let’s get you some breakfast. Maybe a shower. Then we’ll take off.”

“Vanni and Paul getting up?”

“Oh, I’m sure. Come on, kid.”

Walt scrambled eggs and fried bacon and the sounds from the kitchen brought the others. An hour later they all stood out on the front porch and said goodbye. Tom kissed his sister and little Mattie. While his dad waited in the car, he embraced Paul. “Watch out for my dad, Paul,” Tom said. “He likes to act like this is no big deal. Be sure he’s handling me being gone okay.”

“I’ll watch,” Paul said. “I’ll take care of your family, boy. You just knock ’em dead in boot camp.”

“I’ll do my best.”



Ricky’s time was spent with the four most important people in his life. His grandma, Lydie, his girl, Liz, Jack and Preacher. Liz stayed in Virgin River for the ten days he was on leave and some afternoons, Jack took him fishing.

Standing out in the Virgin with Jack, watching the lines arc over their heads as they cast, Rick felt it was where he had always belonged. It was here, at the river, that all the important growing-up talks of his life had taken place, and always with Jack. It was here that Jack had that big talk with him about sex, for what good it did—Rick had still ended up getting his girl pregnant. What a tough time that had been. Later, while Rick was doing his best to stand by her like a man, it was Jack who encouraged him, coached him, tried to keep him on the right path to avoid even more disaster. And after the baby was stillborn, Jack and Preach held him up, helped him shoulder the pain.

“Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, Jack,” he said.

“I didn’t do anything. People tend to come out to celebrate their friends.”

“I wasn’t talking about this week—which, by the way, has been great. I was talking about the last few years. You were like my dad. I kind of always thought of you as my dad. I hope you don’t mind that too much.”

Jack felt his chest tighten up. “Mind? That would make me damn proud, Rick. If I could have another son, I would have it be you.”

“You gotta do something for me, Jack. If anything goes wrong over there—”

“Rick. We don’t like to talk that way….”

“Jack! We know what it is over there. Now listen, if anything goes wrong over there, will you make sure my grandma and Lizzie get through it okay?”

Jack looked at him, at his profile, because Rick looked straight ahead. “You know you don’t have to ask that. We take care of each other’s families.”

“I know. And, Jack? I just don’t want to leave anything important unsaid. I love you, man. You’re my best friend ever. You got me grown up. Nothing would’ve turned out without you.”

Jack swallowed. When he spoke, his voice wasn’t real strong. “There’s still lots of fishing to do, Rick. I’m counting on that.” He put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I love you, too, son.” But he was thinking, If you don’t come back, who’s going to get me through it?

“I want to tell you something I did. I know I’m only nineteen, Liz only seventeen—both of us still too young. But I bought her a necklace with a diamond in it—a nice-size one, too. I told her it was my promise to her, but I also told her it didn’t hold her to anything.”

Jack lifted an eyebrow. “Big step,” he said.

“Half a step, really,” Rick said. “Call it a first step. I love the girl, there’s no question about that. I’ve loved her since she was fourteen—it was my undoing. But there were so many complications for us, some real hurting times. If there’s a better guy for her, I won’t hold her back. But if there’s not a better guy…”

“Then what, Rick?”

“I’m driving her crazy, talking about school all the time. She’s gotta finish high school—that’s just one more year. And I’d really like her to get a little college—I asked her to at least try. When I’m done with this gig, I’m going to school. I’m not saying I’ll give up the Marine Corps—I don’t know about that yet—but I’m going to college. If it works out for us, if we get married, I want us to be smart, educated people. I want a family real bad—probably because of the one we lost, huh?”

“I guess that would set up a real strong desire, yeah,” Jack said.

“Well, if I get another chance at that, I’d like us to be smart enough to earn a decent living and have a couple of kids raised by educated parents.” He turned and grinned at Jack. “I think that kind of talk got her attention—she said she’d try to get good grades her senior year and she’d at least go to community college.” He sobered. “She said she’d do that so I’d be proud of her. Man, I’m already so proud of her—look how she holds up, huh? She buried her baby and said goodbye to me, and did she fall apart? She’s been solid. She’s been real brave, real strong.”