It was Christmas Day on the beach. Lights were strung on the bungalow, and Dwayne, Chico, and Chuck wore red Santa caps. Dwayne smoked a cigar, Chico a joint, and Chuck a turkey. They played poker and drank eggnog. And Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey.
"Belize," Dwayne said.
Chuck and Chico groaned. But they were happy. William Tucker had signed footballs for each of them. Chuck carried his with him always; Chico put his on eBay and made $10,000. But somehow it seemed less exciting when it was a lawful transaction.
Billie Jean Crawford, her daughter, Bobbie Jo, and Becky Tucker played with Rusty on the beach. Billie Jean had finally found her Prince Charming, a broken-down, recovering-drunk, beach-bum lawyer who didn't think he was a Prince Charming. Life had stomped all the bullshit out of him, and he was a better man for it. A good man. All the man she needed.
Becky Tucker flung the Frisbee down the beach for Rusty. She had finished her novel. It wasn't a tragedy after all. She gazed out to sea at the hero of her story.
Frank Tucker stood in knee-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. He stared at the newspaper photo of Sarah Barnes, the photo he had carried with him always and the image that had haunted him for six years.
"I'm so sorry, Sarah. I pray you're in heaven. But I have to let you go now. I hope you can find a way to forgive me."
He laid the photo on the water and watched the tide carry Sarah out to sea. He wiped tears from his face then cast his line. Only two kinds of men find their way to Rockport, Texas: fishermen and losers. As the sun set beyond the Gulf of Mexico, Frank Tucker stood in the surf and fished. With his family on the beach and his son next to him. His son stood six feet five inches tall and weighed two hundred thirty-five pounds, but to his father he would always be that twelve-year-old boy who thought his dad was—
"You're the best dad in the whole world."
And he would be the best son in the whole world. Frank Tucker deserved such a son. William Tucker had been granted a last-minute reprieve by life. A second chance at life. Because of his father. His father had saved his life. He turned to his dad and held up an open hand.
They high-fived.