He discovered that she was the main reason he still cared about living. After a few months, the day came she announced she had a date. It was a...regular customer she’d known for a couple of months, “He’s not as handsome as you, of course,” she told Don, “but he’s been very nice to me and the other girls. He does a lot of business by phone, so, sometimes; he’ll stay at the restaurant from breakfast thru lunch. He’s actually asked me out twice before, but I was scared to say ‘okay’.”She sat. Hawthorn came charging from the livery stable at me, madder than a hornet. He accused me of deliberately injuring his son, and said that he was going to fix me for that. Well, I had no idea what he had in mind, but I got the drift enough to take off in a dead run. He was carrying an ax handle, so I figured that I could expect to come out of this thing with more than one broken bone.It had been long known that I could outrun anybody else in the county, so Mr. Hawthorn only chased me for a few. I saw a piece of cloth and remembering the handkerchief from last night took it out to wipe my hands with it. It was not a handkerchief, it was a soft satin thong. I recognized the thong immediately. It was one that we bought for our tip to Vermont. So if this was what the man handed to her…. I could not think of anything. My mind was going numb, I felt my whole world crashing around me. I just sat there, thoughtless. I was not angry, not hurt and not thinking. There might be an explanation for. ..ok?" Sure... I promise."As she turns and walks away I want to yell out, “please come back,” but the words just stick in my throat. I suddenly feel tingly all over, what the hell is going on. Just before she turns around the corner she looks back my way and says, “By the way, my friends all call me Sunshine." Then she blows me a kiss. I stand there again with my mouth open. When I get enough of my wits back I run to the corner. She's nowhere in site.I spend the rest of the day looking all over.