Page 101 of Locke

“Good.”

She squeezes my hand once and lets go before heading into the kitchen.I sit on the edge of the bed with my coffee and listen to Arch open another one of my cabinets in the kitchen.No telling what he’s looking for now.

I think about the parking lot.The karaoke stage.The specific feeling of standing in front of all those people and saying the most exposed thing I’ve ever said out loud and having the room come back at me the way it did.

I think about what it cost to do that, how it cost considerably less than I thought it would.

I think about Van in the corridor after the Seattle game, telling me the only thing worse than it being hard is looking back from the other side knowing you didn’t go all the way.

Well, I went all the way.

I’m looking at the view from this side and it is… I search for the right word and realize I don’t need one that’s complicated.

It’sgood.

Life is just fucking good.

“Locke.”Livia’s head appears around the doorframe.“Arch is eating your cereal.”

“Figures.”

“He says you have the wrong kind.”

“Tell him he’s in my house.”

She grins and disappears back into the hallway, and I hear her say something to Arch, hear his responding laugh.

I sit on the edge of my bed for another minute with my coffee and the gray morning light and I inhale a deep, satisfying breath.

Life is just fucking good.