But farther than anyone could predict.
Owen smiled.
“So there could be another mystery.”
Mrs. Parker sighed.
“That is not the lesson I hoped you’d learn.”
He laughed.
She did too.
That autumn, nearly one year after the Halloween concert, Owen performed The Road Home again.
This time there was no secret reunion.
No hidden letter.
No locked cabinet.
Mrs. Parker simply sat in the front row.
When Owen walked onto the stage, he searched for her automatically.
She raised one hand.
He waved back.
Then Ms. Delgado lifted her baton.
The auditorium grew quiet.
Four notes began.
Mrs. Parker closed her eyes.
And smiled.
Because some songs are not meant to return you to the past.
Some songs simply remind you that the road continued after you thought it had ended.
And sometimes, if you are very fortunate, you are still here when the music finds its way home.
