Chapter 11 - Travis Finally Told Me About the Impact
Travis came to my house after midnight.
Alone.
No jacket.
No anger left.
He looked older than forty.
I didn’t invite him to sit.
“What happened on the lake?”
He stared at the floor.
“Natalie was driving.”
I said nothing.
“She’d been drinking, but not enough that I thought—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“We caught Claire about halfway across. She wouldn’t slow down. Natalie tried to come alongside her.”
“Why?”
“To make her stop.”
“Why would Claire stop for the woman having an affair with her husband?”
His face folded.
Then he said it.
“The boats touched.”
“How hard?”
“Harder than I told myself afterward.”
The red runabout struck Blue Heron near the rear quarter.
Claire’s boat lurched.
The impact damaged part of the steering linkage.
Travis claimed they did not understand how badly.
Claire screamed at them and continued toward the far shore.
Travis told Natalie to turn back.
“You left her?”
“She was still moving.”
“With damaged steering.”
“We didn’t know.”
I stepped closer.
“You hid the broken hull fragment.”
His eyes filled.
“I found it near the shoreline the next morning.”
“And immediately understood what it showed.”
He nodded.
That was almost the whole truth.
Almost.
Then I asked:
“When did you call for help?”
Travis looked away.
May you like
And suddenly I knew there was still one piece he hadn’t given me.
---
