Chapter 2

Hawke and Dom were sitting at a small table in the back of the tavern. They were each having a beer and talking about old times.

"It's hard to believe that this time tomorrow Doc will be a married man," said Dom. "Who would have thought it."

Hawke smiled. "I agree. I kind of thought he was going to be a permanent bachelor."

"Like you?" asked Dom.

"No, I don't plan on being a bachelor forever," String replied.

Dom laughed. "That's good to know."

While they were talking, Hawke noticed a sheriff's deputy walk into the tavern looking for Doc. He walked over to Doc and his friends at the front of the tavern and spoke to him. Hawke saw Doc nearly fall to his knees but was steadied with the help of his friends.

Dom and String jumped up and ran over to their friend to find out what was going on.

"I'm afraid there was a car accident," repeated the deputy. "The car owned by Doc's fiancé Mia went off of a cliff. The car was badly burned. There were no survivors."

Hawke suddenly felt his whole world spinning out of control. "Oh my God," he yelled. "Caitlin was in that car too."

Doc looked up at Hawke with tears in his eyes but he was at a loss for words. His friends helped him stand. He went over and gave Hawke a hug. As he pulled away he said, "This just doesn't seem real. This can't be real."

"I don't believe it," said Hawke. "There's no way that Caitlin is dead. I want to go to where the car went off the cliff. Take me there," he demanded.

"Look," said the deputy. "I understand how you feel but the coroner's office and my department is investigating. So far, there were very few human remains found. The car was burned so badly that there was practically nothing left. If your friend was in there, she's gone."

Doc and Dom watched as Hawke ran out of the tavern and jumped into the rental car. He drove to the hotel, went up to their room and slammed the door shut. Hawke was angry. He had never been this angry in his whole life. He wanted to lash out and hurt someone but no one was at fault. Then he realized that it was his fault. He let her seep little by little into his life and before he knew it she became his everything. Now, just like that, she was gone.

"NO!" he screamed as he began to tear up the room. He ripped the sheets off of the bed, threw pictures from the wall and knocked their suit cases open onto the floor. Then he fell onto the bed and sobbed. His last chance at love, the one true love he thought he had finally found was gone. Fate had dealt him another blow. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. This curse he had was never ending. He thought she would be the one to break it. Now, she too was gone.

He opened her suitcase and took out one of her t-shirts. He held it tightly to him, noticing how it had her smell. Then he lay on the bed with it, staring at the ceiling.

Dom waited about an hour before he knocked on Hawke's door. "String," he said. "Can I please come in there?"

It was silent for several minutes but slowly Hawke got up and opened the door. As Dom walked in, String lay back down on the bed and shut his eyes.

"Nice redecorating you did kid," said Dom. "I feel sorry for the housekeepers though."

"What do you want Dom?" asked String solemnly.

"I don't know," he replied. I've been walking around this hotel for an hour now and nothing makes any sense. I just want to wake up from this nightmare and find out that Caitlin is still alive."

Dom saw a tear run down Hawke's face. He sat up and moved over to where he had knocked the suitcases on the floor. He rummaged through his own suitcase and pulled out a little black box and handed it to Dom.

Santini opened the box and sighed. "So you were going to propose? When?"

"Tonight," he replied. "I knew it was too soon for us to get married now but she always said she told her mom that she'd have a two year engagement. I just wanted those two years to start now."

Dom walked over and gave String as hug. "I'm so sorry," he replied. "I wish there was something that I could say or do to make this better."

"You can get me out of here," replied Hawke. "I want to go home now."

"String, you can't just go back and hide away from life at your cabin you know," said Dom. "You need to face this."

"How Dom?" he replied. "How do I face losing the only woman that I ever loved? How do I do that?"

"You've loved before String and you'll love again," said Dom. "You can't die with her. She wouldn't want that."

"It's too late for that now Dom," he replied. "I'm already dead inside."