Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 82(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
“What about Kelly?” I ask. “My parents…”
“You can always come back and visit,” he replies. “You aren’t a criminal. You haven’t done anything wrong. Hell, tons of people retire to Thailand. Maybe your folks will want to come too!”
I shrug. He actually has a point there. I’ve heard lots of people like to retire to Thailand because the dollar is worth a lot more there, because the weather is great, the people are nice, and it’s just an all-around beautiful country. And I did just quit my job, didn’t I?
“What do you say, baby?” Bain asks. “You going to come with me, or are you going to make me be a lonely bachelor the rest of my life?”
“I…”
“Or force me to get myself a Thai girlfriend—”
“Okay, fuck you, I’m coming!” I blurt out, hurling myself into his arms. Bain explodes with laughter, his chest heaving up and down as he pulls me tight.
“That’s my girl. Come on, I had my guy pack us both bags. We’re already set to go.”
We kiss again and stare into each other’s eyes. Something comes over me, and I just can’t stop myself.
“I love you,” I say, unable to hold back any longer. “I don’t care what happened in your past. I know you’re not that man any longer, and I love you.”
Bain’s lips twist into the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen from him. He’s looked at me with such passion so many times before, but the way he looks at me now is different; it’s like I’ve finally said something he’s been waiting for me to say but wasn’t sure I ever would.
“You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that,” he replies. “Or how much I love you, Elena. I’d go to the ends of the Earth for you and back again.”
I reach up and cup his face – his rough, handsome face.
“Well, it looks like we’re going halfway around the world for each other,” I giggle. “Hopefully that’s good enough.”
Epilogue
Bain
Five Years Later…
* * *
The warm sea breeze blows against my back as I walk up the beach to our cottage. I’ve just gotten back from taking the boat out for a short fishing trip with a couple of local boys from town and have a small haul for tonight’s dinner. That is if Elena hasn’t already started something. In that case, I’ll put tonight’s catch in the fridge for tomorrow.
I love surprising her with something fresh and caught by me, but even more so, we both love how much her dad appreciates it. Paul’s a real guy’s-guy and was a little more than skeptical about my union to his daughter, so the more I can do to ingratiate myself to him, the better. Fishing, working on the engines of the dingy and the scooters we’ve collected over the years, or just general handyman work – all of that he appreciates. It lets him know I’m “capable of taking care of his daughter,” in his words.
He and his wife, Grace, followed us to Thailand eight months after we moved over. That’s how long it took for them to warm up to the idea and get their retirements in order. It wasn’t easy getting them to accept that their daughter was in love and living overseas with a convicted serial killer who’d escaped from prison and fled the country. In fact, I think getting them to rob a bank with me would have been easier, but eventually they came along, mostly for Elena’s sake at first, and then over the years, they slowly warmed up to me. Once she got pregnant, I think they realized this was for real.
I gaze up the sand, bathed in the peach and violet glow of the slowly setting sun, and see my wife through the kitchen window, bouncing our baby boy in her arms, her face filled with joy as she smiles down at him. Little Paulie. Maybe a shameless tactic to win favor with her father, but I’ll do anything to ensure that Elena’s parents like me and understand I have no ill intentions.
When I reach the back door, I can already smell my wife’s cooking, so I drop my fish bag in the outdoor cooler and wash my hands under the spigot before slipping quietly inside.
“Who’s a good boy?” I hear her coo to Paulie. “You are! Yes you are! You’re a good boy!”
As quietly as I can, I slip up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. “What about me?” I ask, causing her to jump. “Am I a good boy?”
“Oh, you dirty little…” Her voice trails off. I scared her, but not too badly. Just enough. I couldn’t afford to make her jump – not with my son in her arms. “No, Daddy’s not a good boy,” she babbles to Paulie. “Daddy’s a bad man, isn’t he? Yes! Yes, he is!”