The Time Until (27 page)

6 Years Later

“Daddy, hurry up!
 
Mommy’s in the TV!” the little angel shouts from the living room,
bouncing excitedly on the couch.
 
I quickly
gather up the snacks from the kitchen and hurry out of the room.

Ethan is sitting in my recliner with Lauren in his
lap.
 
They got engaged last year and have
been trying to figure out a good date for the ceremony.
 
Ethan had to quit his job in order to date
her, but he tells me all the time that it was worth it.
 
He found a higher paying job at another
company and he just bought a house — in fact, he proposed the same day he
closed.
 
Lauren is a great woman and she
compliments Ethan well.
 
She’s all
business and seriousness; it makes Ethan slow down and
think
before he does something stupid.
 
I get a
kick out of the two of them when they’re together since they argue like
90-year-old men who have been friends all their lives.

Quentin and Arianna are trying to control the
devil angel on the couch, or actually, Quentin is trying to keep her from
accidentally jumping — falling — on Arianna’s very pregnant belly on the
couch.
 
Those two got married two years
ago and this is their first child.
 
I see
Arianna’s glow whenever she feels the kid kick and Quentin has turned into a
regular Suzy Homemaker.
 
He has a trust
fund that he has dipped into heavily to prepare for the baby.
 
His house looks like they built it out of
rubber and drew the plans with a compass — no sharp angles anywhere.
 
We let them babysit whenever they want in
order to practice — their words.

Kate and Hayden Blake — great guy by the way — are
sitting on the floor in front of the TV, leaning on the coffee table.
 
Hayden knew a great physical therapist in the
area that helped Sam with her disability.
 
The first few months were really hard for us and Kate has been a great
help following the accident.
 
She just
started trying to get her master’s degree in counseling, specializing in grief
and accident victims.
 
Her unofficial
sessions did wonders for Sam back then and helped the two of them bond.
 
They are now the friends I always knew they
could have been in the past.
 
Hayden
pushed Sam solely into the “get better fast” category when he told her about
the Paralympics and all it entails.

Which is where my lovely wife is
right now: beautiful Tokyo, Japan, taking the country by storm.

“Angie Marie, you better not
be
jumping on the couch,” I scold as I turn the corner into the living room.

“Oh, busted!” Ethan yells and Lauren hits
him.
 
He throws her an innocent look like
he has no idea why she hit him.
 
Angie
plops herself down on her butt and folds her hands in her lap like she hasn’t
done anything wrong all day, which I know is a lie.
 
She is too much like her mother that there is
no way she hasn’t done anything wrong in the last hour let alone all day.

But it’s a special occasion, so I have every
intention of letting it slide for today only.

I place the snacks on the coffee table and sit down,
pulling Angie into my lap as we watch the TV.
 
Sam worked extra hard when she found out about the Paralympics from
Hayden.
 
She was training in both the
physical therapy from the coma in order to get her full mobility back and how
to walk with prosthetics. This was something she wasn’t entirely ready for, but
did it without complaint — I doubt I could have said the same in her
shoes.
 
We got married a year after the
accident — in
that
park, I thought it
was only fitting.
 
Angie was born while
Sam was in the middle of training for the Games four years ago.
 
It killed her to have to take time off, but
she loves Angie unconditionally.

She’s done all this and still managed to get a
degree in medicine.
 
A successful
pediatrician now, general practice, she’s become what she always wanted to
become.
 
She doesn’t let her disability
get to her and actually manages to keep up with Angie most of the time.

I finally found my major after a long while of
thinking about it and it’s something that hits close to home.
 
I passed the bar over a year ago and have
been practicing law as an assistant DA for almost a year.
 
Already I have a reputation as an
uncompromising hard-ass.
 
No one is going
to get a slap on the wrist from me.
 
I
have no problem with that title at all.

“Welcome back to the Paralympic Games.
 
It’s been a lovely day here in Tokyo, Japan,
filled with medals and upsets.
 
The
women’s side of things has set records and the men’s has been just as
surprising.
 
We’re just getting ready for
the woman’s T44 100-meter dash right now, so let’s go down track side.” The
camera skips to a wide shot of the racers at first, “Some people might not
understand how the classification system works when it comes to athletics in
the Paralympic Games.
 
T43 is double
amputee.
 
T44 is single amputee.
 
The races are usually separated between the
different classifications, but since there isn’t enough T43s and 44s running in
these Games, the commission has voted to combine the two.
 
So you’ll see both double and single amputee
runners in this race,” the announcer explains as the camera cuts to each
individual runner at a time.

“There’s Natasha Vasilyev.
 
The 16-year-old single amputee from Russia
has had a good day today here on the track, winning a bronze in the 200-meter
race.”

The camera pans to the next person in the line.

“Yuri Sato from Japan.
 
The 22-year-old, single amputee has been a
competitor in two Paralympic Games.
 
This
contender has had a rocky start in these Games and could be looking to turn
things around in this race.”

Next person.

“Sarah Anderson, 21-year-old single amputee from
Australia, is next in the block.
 
She’s
had a great night tonight as well, winning gold in the 200-meter dash.”

The camera pans again to the next person and Angie
leaps from my grasp, clapping loudly.
 
I
adjust so I have a better view of the screen as it shows Sam bouncing on her
prosthetic running blades, warming up for the race.

“There she is folks, Samantha Green.
 
The 26-year-old double amputee from the
United States has had a phenomenal day today winning medals in all of her
events.
 
She’s won gold in the 110-meter
hurdles, another in the 400-meter dash, and finally silver in the 200-meter
race.
 
She was within two one-hundredths
of a second from getting the gold in that one.
 
She’ll be looking for gold in this event and with the way she’s
competing it’s a very good possibility.”

The camera starts to pan to the rest of the
contestants and I tune them out, I don’t care about them.

Once the introductions are complete the runners
start setting up.
 
Sam places her
prosthetics on the starting blocks as she waits for the pistol to fire,
starting them off.
 
There is a weight and
a silence that I haven’t heard since before Angie was born filling the room.

The starter calls “get set” and all the racers tense
up.
 
Painful seconds start counting down
as the racers wait for the pistol to fire.
 
The audience in the stands falls silent and everyone in my house holds
their breath.
 
It’s painful how long it
takes as the tension builds to boiling point.

The only one that doesn’t seem affected by it is
Angie as she bounces up and down eagerly watching her mother poised to take
off.

The runners take off before I even register that I
heard the starter pistol.

The longest ten seconds of my life plays out in
front of me.
 
Sam and Sarah trade place
three times before they both lean forward to give themselves an advantage
crossing the finish line.
 
The finish is
close; they pull out the old photo finish — which shows that Sam was the one
that crossed first.

The scoreboard pops up with Sam’s name in the
first position, Sarah’s pops up right after with a one one-hundredth of second
difference.
 
Sam screams loudly and
starts jumping up and down as Sarah and several other competitors come over to
congratulate her with a hug.
 
One of the
officials wraps the American flag around her shoulder and she flies around the
track like it’s a cape, laughing as if it’s the only thing she knows how to
do.
 
She’s the same as she was from the
past, full of life and promise.
 
Not
afraid of anything and able to do everything.
 
Her eyes glow with the brilliance of accomplishment.
 
Her body radiates satisfaction and pride.

I can’t be any happier for her than I am at this
moment.

Her bright eyes and smile makes the time until now
all worth it.

This book has been a labor of love – and hate –
for me.
 
It started out as a short movie
script for my little brother’s production company,
I95 Pictures
.
 
The script was only 25 pages long and was a
lot more depressing.
 
That was almost two
years ago.
 
It never really took off, but
the idea kind of stuck with me and I kept going over it as time went on.

This version of the script came to be after a
friend suggested I do it.
 
That friend has
been there every step of the way for me on this and, despite having her own
obligations, has never once let me down.
 
So,
Ohio
gets the lion’s
share of the credit for this book – alongside my wife.
 
She’s given my pointers and even took time
out of her busy schedule to edit a few of the first chapters.
 
I’m glad I reached out to you all those
months ago after your book touched me so closely.
 
Thank you for talking to me when you didn’t
have to and thank you for being a great friend.
 
I miss the long nights just sending emails back and forth about nothing
and everything, but I’m glad I can still call you friend.
 
Don’t ever change.
 
I still have to stump you at song lyrics,
damn it.

The other lion’s share of credit for this book
goes to my wife,
Julie
.
 
Everyone talks about the family that was
awesome.
 
They have families that let
them write without interruption and put up with a dirty house and left-over
dinners without complaint.
 
I didn’t have
a family like that.
 
There was always
something to do with the kids [parks, birthday parties, play-dates, etc.].
 
I can’t complain, I love my family and
writing has always been a hobby of mine.
 
My wife is the most supportive of this endeavor than anyone else I know
[Ohio excluded].
 
If it wasn’t for her
silent approval, and gentle pushes, I doubt even Ohio could have gotten me to
finish this book.
 
Believe me there were
times that I wanted to give it up.
 
It
was her sympathetic agreements with me – then hard hitting questions about
regrets – that kept me writing this little book here for all of you.
 
I love you, Baby.
 
Don’t ever leave… it would hurt a lot. ;-)

I must also mention Ohio’s sister,
Dawn
.
 
She’s been a great cheerleader as well.
 
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for the editing, but I’m glad I got to know
you regardless.
 
I look forward to future
cheerleading from you.
 
Thanks again for
making me feel 100ft tall with that Nicholas Sparks reference.

My good friend
Morgan
needs an acknowledgement as well.
 
He edited the original manuscript for me,
despite it not being what he normally reads.
 
In fact I think this genre is by far his least favorite one of all
time.
 
So, thank you for suffering
through it for me and thanks again for helping me out.

My kids, the annoyingly adorable little buggers,
that made it their life mission to distract me from writing this book,
David
and
Jennifer
.
 
I can’t get enough
of them and so I’m not as mad as I should be. ;-)

Now we move on to the beta-readers.
 
I love this group since they are awesome,
every single one:

First up is
Holly from Hot Reads
.
 
She’s a very outspoken person and I believe I once described her as a
Beverly Hills cheerleader with a caffeine IV permanently attached.
 
I like that our relationship is based on crude
humor and inappropriate jokes – as you kindly pointed out to me not to long
ago.
 
I have enjoyed getting to know you
and love your personality, since I haven’t seen that picture of your
distraction tools yet. :-P

Next is
Zoe from The Book Lovers
.
 
She’s just as fun as Holly though not nearly as outspoken.
 
She does play along with me which
is
a huge plus in my book – the other more astral kind of
book.
 
Zoe and Holly together make me
wish I lived in the UK.
 
Here’s
to you Sugar Boobs. ;-)

Derna
from Book Nerds Anonymous
.
 
I unfortunately
haven’t gotten to talk to you as much as I would like to, but the brief
conversations we’ve had have been some of the most informative I’ve had.
 
Thanks for helping make my book better.

Nikki from
Bookaholics
Blog
.
 
Nikki has been a great friend to me recently
and her notes for my book were the most comprehensive I got.
 
Just about all her points made the book
better and I only over-ruled her on one thing.
 
We
chatted
about work and writing, about blog
tour prices, raising kids, and just everyday things.
 
I’ve enjoyed our little conversations, though
they haven’t been as unabashed as my conversations with Holly and Zoe, they
have been enjoyable to have.
 
Thanks for
everything Nikki.

Chris’ Book Blog Emporium
.
 
She is the first one
to read the new version after all the changes were made.
 
She’s been a huge help in making the final
changes to the book.
 
An extremely busy
blogger [reviews, ARCs, Beta-reading, tours, etc.] I’m honored that she felt
she could take time out for my little book.
 
Thanks for your help as well Chris.

My brother
Dillon
read the book as well.
 
He’s my
brother…
 
Enough said.

Ohio
and
Dawn
also Beta-Read…
 
Of
course they’ve been reading the damn thing since the beginning so there wasn’t
much they didn’t already see before.
 
I
still appreciate them and thought they deserved another mention.

Sunniva
,
what can say?
 
I haven’t talked to her
nearly enough.
 
She’s been a vocal supporter
of my book and I appreciate that a lot.
 
She’s a fun person to talk to, when you get the chance, and is good for
a laugh every now and then.
 
Make sure
you all check out her book when it gets released.
 
Thanks for the help.

Last, but not least, I want to thank you, the
readers, for reading this little monster.
 
It was a joy and a pain to write but so far it’s all been worth it.
 
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy
schedules to read my book.
 
I hope you
enjoyed yourselves and that you will want to come again when I finish my next
work.
 
As always, thank you.

TTFN, Ta
Ta
For
Now,

Casey
Ford