Loose - Epilogue

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It was mid afternoon and the hot sun in a cloudless blue sky felt good. A low bake, just right, she thought to herself. Her dark tan was just getting darker. Liv walked through the soft surf and wet sand. The blinding white sand beach and dunes of Mustang Island was on her left, a cobalt blue sky above and the glittering Gulf on her right.

Almost nine months had passed since that fateful night in Corpus at the Calm Waters Marina. A very tough, challenging and even life changing nine months for Liv as it turned out. She was simply not the same woman she used to be. In any way, in any measure. Physically, mentally, in private or professional life.

The Tate Diller case had almost broken her. Almost. A three week leave of absence hadn’t helped. A reassignment to head up a DPS special task force fighting Human Trafficking, which had actually been very successful, hadn’t fixed anything. She still had panic attacks, still had the vivid, realistic dreams of losing Wells. Probably worst of all was that her ability to focus on details and her natural, instinctive detective skills seemed to have disappeared overnight.

The unresolved justice, at least in her mind, of Tate Diller’s body never being recovered still haunted her. The mystery of Carla Diller’s involvement was also a question that would never be answered. Her body was recovered and Lenny Diller had died of his injuries but the case seemed unfinished in too many ways.

So against the advice, as well as the unconditional support, from people like Corpus Police Chief Glenn Pollard and her own Captain Bellamy, Liv finally made the decision to leave. Leave not only the DPS, but law enforcement altogether. She had no confidence, felt incomplete and lost when she walked away from it all. Liv hadn’t lost everything though.

If she was honest with herself, her leaving the department had to happen in order to begin again and the odd truth was, the effects of the Diller case had not all been horrific. She had kept in contact with several people related to the case, or they had her. Bev Oliver for instance, had made a full recovery and strong as ever, she went back to college at Sam Houston State with a goal of attaining a teaching degree.

Then there was the call she got from Gregg County Sheriff Tom Coltrane one day this past spring. Coltrane had some news to share. He and Maryanne Taylor, the best friend of Millie Portman., had found love in the middle of tragedy and rekindled a high school romance they had once had. The wedding was a month away. She smiled thinking about what good can come out of things so awful.

Despite all the ugliness that had occurred in Corpus Christi, Liv had found something here and it was something she couldn’t define or explain about the place, but she had decided to make it her home.

She stopped walking for a moment and shielded her eyes as she looked into the bright shimmering distance. Lately she had begun thinking about what tomorrow might bring, not what yesterday had been. How lucky she’d been, and was still.

Her smile got bigger as the man approached wearing only cutoff jeans. He was extremely fit and more muscular than before but walked with a limp, a slight one, but it would be permanent.

Not bad for a guy who flat lined twice, once in the ambulance and once in the emergency room of the hospital. Not bad for a guy who had undergone months of excruciating physical therapy. Liv had been beside him every difficult step of the way. Wells had said it himself once. “I’m different. Never say never.”

When they finally embraced, they melted into each other, warm skin on warm skin. Brown eyes on brown eyes and bodies clamped together like the opposite ends of two magnets.

Wells pulled away slightly and gave her that smile she loved. “Good walk?”

“It was good.” She grinned back at him. “But better now…much better.”

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