Chapter 47

47

The waitress in the Masterson Diner had been really pretty, Sonny thought, when he was driving through Masterson again. Katie was doing better. She wasn't as fussy and she was sleeping now. Gave him time to think. To remember the last time he'd been through Masterson.

He'd really liked it here.

He'd driven around Masterson, where he could get his rig, anyway. He didn't have a load right now—his latest run had just required him unhitching and leaving the entire cargo at an old barn fifty miles north of the town. He'd done just that, though no one had been there to meet him. He'd just backed the load into the barn and left, just as instructed.

It had been an easy run, no denying that.

It had given him some extra cash, and some extra time. They'd told him to stick close. They'd have another run for him soon. This time toward Washington and California. Sonny hadn't ever been that way before. He was interested in seeing that part of the country, but he'd heard it was really expensive to live there.

He wanted someplace more affordable. With a cute school, a good one. Not like Boethe Elementary where he'd had to go as a kid. Someplace Katie would have fun and learn lots of stuff. She was going to do better in school that Sonny had. He was going to make sure of it.

He could have done better. If he hadn't been such an asshole back then. Or if his mom had cared about him and his two brothers having a future or something. She would have pushed them a little more. Or even cared. She hadn't even cared if they went to school, just that they didn't cause her any problems.

Sonny was going to do better than that. He hadn't done drugs in a month. Not since Neveah had died. It was hard sometimes, but who would take care of Katie if he was stoned or something? She could die if he wasn't careful.

The waitress hadn't looked at him like he was a loser. That nurse hadn't either. People in Masterson were nice. Decent.

They probably would think he was scum if they knew what he was driving around though. For the first time since taking the jobs, he felt bad. Guilty. Like maybe he could do better.

What would happen to Katie if he went to jail or something?

He'd watched the waitress. Her name was Dylan. People liked her, too. She'd held lots of kids, not just Katie. And she'd carried an order out for an elderly man who had had a walker. She'd even flirted with that guy who had to be like ninety. It had made that man smile. Everyone in the diner had seemed happy. Relaxed. Nice to each other and everything.

Like Masterson was a good place. He liked that.

His brother's ex-wife was up here somewhere, too. In Wyoming.

This was where he wanted, Sonny decided. For sure. He wanted Katie to grow up here.

No matter what.

It was a good place.

He was googling properties on his phone after he finally got Katie back to sleep, when the phone rang.

It was them. The guys who paid the best. It was like divine intervention or something. If he could be in Pinedale in the morning by seven a.m., they would give him an extra two thousand dollars. All he had to do was take a small load to Washington state and leave it. Then head back to Texas for a while. They'd have more work for him, and it would keep him under the legal driving hours.

It was drugs, yeah—but the prices of houses was stupid. He needed more money to make it work, since he had convictions on his record and had no real credit or anyone to co-sign or anything like that. He'd probably have to rent a place at first.

How did a guy like him even buy a house anyway?

But…he was going to come back to Masterson, first chance he had. He'd go to that Tyler Trucking place. And get himself a job with them. Build a life here. The kind of life that real people had. Not losers like him.

Sonny was going to do it—for Katie. She deserved the best kind of life he could built for her. The guys who he drove for, he'd explain to him that he'd still be able to do local runs for them—not that they had many—but he wanted a better future for his daughter.

Or maybe he shouldn't. He knew it wasn't legal or anything—he didn't want to go to jail again and leaving Katie out there alone or anything.

That was the responsible thing to do.

Tomorrow…was going to be his last run with the guys out of Finley Creek.

Sonny was never going back to Texas again. He and Katie—they were going to build a life together in Wyoming.

The good kind of life. The kind his baby girl deserved.