"So are you going to finally quit? Settle down and maybe find yourself a wife?" Jay bombarded him. "Theo, have you ever failed in any of your assignments?" he asked.
"What? Me? Never," Theo responded somewhat surprised by the question.
"Why don't you call it quits while you're ahead? Settle down here with us. You would be welcomed," Jay told Theo.
Theo stared out at the ocean, feeling the cool breeze of the night. It was as close to paradise as he could imagine. But the ebb and flow of the ocean made him realize he must move on and continue moving.
"You have a good life here, Jay," Theo said.
"But?"
"It's not for me," Theo responded.
They sat there quietly for a couple of hours before they got up and went back into the house.
While sitting on the couch, Theo was caught off guard when Maria came running up to him, threw her little arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
"Good night," she said to him.
"Um... Good night, kind lady," responded Theo. Maria smiled at him and ran off to bed.
Theo looked up at Jay and Emelia as they both shrugged their shoulders as if saying "We don't know where she gets these things from either."
Theo was given the spare bedroom adjacent to Maria’s. It was the second night in a row that he felt at peace.
The next morning was a repeat of the previous day as all four sat around the table having breakfast. Little Maria was telling Theo about one of her friends who she thought liked her and wanted to marry her.
"Really? And don't you think you are too young to get married?" Theo asked her.
"Of course, silly. It's not for now," Maria told him in a matter of fact way.
"Oh, sorry I misunderstood," Theo told her.
"His name is Robert. But I call him Bobby," Maria said.
"Who?" Theo asked her.
"My boyfriend. Aren't you listening to me?" Maria asked him.
"Oh...umm... I see. Yes, I'm listening," Theo responded feeling somewhat uneasy. Both Emelia and Jay stared at them as they were having their conversation, wondering what Theo must be thinking.
After breakfast, Theo and Jay both enjoyed a walk to get his mail at the local post office about a mile down the road.
"She's a handful," Jay said of Maria. Theo smiled and nodded in agreement.
Twenty minutes later they were walking back with a pile of newspapers. "What the hell is all that," Theo asked Jay.
"I subscribe to several newspapers. It helps me keep tabs on what's going on back home," Jay responded.
"Why don't you simply buy a television," Theo asked him.
"Nah, I like reading stuff. Besides the television out here only reports on major international issues. Not things that might happen on the streets of New York or Chicago," Jay said.
When they got back, Jay took the papers, laid them on the sand next to the beach chairs and started to go through them. Every once in a while he mentioned something of interest to Theo, who was occupying the chair next to him. It was four newspapers later when Jay said, "Hey Theo, here's a bit of news that might interest you."
"Yeah, what's that?" Theo asked.
"It seems Felicia Giordano has come back from the dead," Jay said.
***
The news that Felicia Giordano was still alive caught Theo off guard. The incident replayed in his mind over and over again. "How could she have survived a direct hit to the head?" he asked himself.
It wasn't till almost three a.m. that he realized what he had to do. The job wasn't finished. Regardless of who hired him, he had not completed his end of the contract. In Theo's way of thinking it had to be resolved immediately; his unblemished reputation of never failing to complete a contract was now in jeopardy.
Though Jay had asked him to let it go, that it was an omen, he could not: he could not let her live. He knew she would stop at nothing, spare no expense, to track him down. Such was her nature. Such was his nature.
So at around 6:00 a.m. Theo was up. He took a quick shower and was ready to walk out the door when he was confronted by little Maria. "Where you going?" she asked him.
"It's time for me to go," Theo responded.
"But I don't want you to go," she told him.
Theo walked over to her, got down on his knees and looked her right in the eyes. "I have to go. I didn't finish a job and I have to go and finish it," Theo told her.
"Will you be back after you finish?" she asked him.
He looked into her eyes and smiled. "Yes, I'll try to come back once I am finished," he told her.
Maria gave Theo a tight hug. "Please, come back," she told him.
Theo picked her up, carried her to her bed and laid her down, brought the cover up to her neck and kissed her on the forehead. "Go to sleep," he whispered.
"I love you," responded Maria. This caught Theo completely off guard. He had not heard those words in many years. This little girl touched his heart and he was almost overwhelmed by it.
He stared down at her and smiled. "I love you too," he told her. Theo straightened up and walked out of the room and down the hall toward the living room where Jay stood with his back to him, looking out onto the beach.
"It's going to be another beautiful day," Jay said, still with his back to him.
Theo came alongside him and peered out towards the beach. "Yes, it is," he responded.
"Do you remember when we were in Nam and Nick asked you to let him take out the next mark?" Jay asked.
It took a few seconds before Theo responded. "Yes, I remember. I also remember telling him that it was a long shot and he hadn't ever taken a shot like that from that distance. But he insisted," Theo said.
"He shot four other men before he finally hit his mark. Lucky they were all looking in different directions, and the mark didn't even notice until the third guy went down," Jay said almost laughing hysterically.
"Yeah, I never seen two grown men laugh so hard while running for their lives," Theo said smiling as he recalled the incident. "We ended up jumping into the freaken river," Theo added.
Then there was a dead silence.
"Want me to go with you?" Jay asked him.
Theo turned to Jay and smiled. The two men embraced and Theo walked out without ever responding.
Jay watched as Theo disappeared into the night. "Good luck my friend," Jay said
