Epilogue
"You're really going back to Ojai?" Jenn asked as she and Steve helped Jaime prepare for the next morning's flight. After her release from the hospital, Jaime had spent a couple of weeks at an OSI apartment while she sorted out her feelings and chose her next move.
"It really is 'Home'," Jaime sighed. "And Jim and Helen will be there, so I won't be alone." She'd been unable to go back to the house she and Michael shared and had finally finished sorting through the belongings her friends had boxed for her. "I'm gonna miss you guys an awful lot, though...."
Steve peered out the front window. "Looks like it finally stopped snowing. If the plows got enough of a head start, your flight should be safe for take-off tomorrow."
"Too bad we can't bury that Trudeau idiot in it," Jenn grumbled. "I can't believe he's not going to trial."
Steve shrugged. "He didn't really kill anyone." Trudeau had been censured – severely reprimanded – for his carelessness, but no charges had been filed.
"At least Steve's not in jail – and we're all okay," Jaime chimed in. She looked wistfully at her friends as she sealed up the last box. "You'll...come out to visit, right?"
"Of course," both Austins promised.
Jaime joined them at the window. The snow had not quite reached the bottom of the window ledge but was plenty high enough to have blanketed the entire outside world in crystalline white. "So pretty..." Jaime marveled. "Michael kept me away from it for so long....why?"
There were no words. Steve and Jenn's hands met as they each wrapped a supportive arm around their friend's shoulders. Suddenly, Jaime perked up, her body jumping with excitement. "There's something I need to do – and you can help me!"
That evening, when Oscar and Rudy stopped over to say goodbye, they found Jaime sitting by the window, looking jubilant. The lawn outside was nearly cleared of snow and smack-dab in the middle was a huge, grinning snowman, a halo of snow angels all around his base.
END