Chapter II: Home

            Lizzie stepped off the bus and looked around.  How was it possible that the small chunk of town she could see looked simultaneously different and yet the same?  It was the same place she could remember growing up but with subtle changes.  A Wal-Mart inhabited the old Kmart building.  A Jimmy Johns was where the old A & W building used to be but that building was gone and a new one stood in its place.  Some kind of boutique was where Hallmark used to be.  But main street was still the same road.  Probably the same potholes, she thought to herself.  Although the traffic light itself seemed to be updated to the latest standards.  It all felt slightly unfamiliar yet familiar enough she knew where she was.  The place she never expected to come back to live.

            “Is that my Lizzie?” she heard a voice behind her ask.  Charles Carter was not a small man and his booming voice matched his physique.

            She turned and saw her dad smiling and holding out his arms.

            “Hi dad,” she couldn’t match the enthusiasm of his smile but she was glad to see him.  She let him wrap her in a big bear hug and that surely felt familiar.

            “Hi honey,” he said.  Every time since she was an extra in a movie he called her movie star but this time he refrained and she appreciated it.  She backed up a little so that she could look at him.  He stood quietly while she scanned him from head to toe.  “Fit as a fiddle,” he said.

            She cocked an eyebrow.  “Then why couldn’t you pick me up in Salt Lake?  What’s wrong?”

            He waved her off.  “Plenty of time for all that.  Let’s go home.”

            She winced a little as if hearing him call it home finally made it official.  “I’ll get my bags.”

            “Oh, I brought some help for that.” He turned around.  “Matty?”

            A tall man in a suit was leaning up against the building and started walking toward them.  His jacket and tie made him stick out in this setting. “Ready Chuck?”

            “This is my neighbor,” Chuck said to his daughter.  “Matt Jenkins this is my daughter Lizzie Carter.”

            Lizzie looked at him surprised.  “Oh, hello.  I didn’t know anyone was here with dad.”  She gave her dad a look as if to say I knew something was wrong.  Her dad took her arm and walked by her side to avoid meeting her gaze.

            Matt looked quickly at Chuck and then back at Lizzie.  “I’m just trying to repay Chuck back for the many things he does for me. Your dad is the best neighbor.”

            Lizzie noticed the look between them and sensed there was more to the story. “Right.” She said it slowly and dragged it out to two syllables.

            “Your bags?” Matt asked.

            “Oh, yeah,” she said and her and Matt went to retrieve them.

            After her bags were loaded in the back of Matt’s truck, the three of them climbed in the cab. 

            “Where’s your truck, dad?” she asked.  “Why didn’t you drive?”  Even though he told her they would talk later she fished for information.

            “Oh, well,” he said looking out the passenger window.  “I might have experienced a minor medical emergency about a month or so ago.”

            “What?” she asked.  “What do you mean a minor medical emergency?  And why am I just now finding out about this?”

            “Now, it’s nothing to worry about,” her dad said calmly. Too calmly.  It felt rehearsed.

            “Dad?” she pressed.

            “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry about anything.  You had a lot on your plate in New York.  The last thing you needed was to worry about your old dad.”

            She moved her knees so that Matt could shift.  “That’s ridiculous.  You should have told me.”

            They rode in silence.  She used the silence to punctuate how mad she was at the moment.  Until it finally occurred to her that she still didn’t know what the medical emergency was.

            “So,” she said slowly. “What’s wrong?”

            Chuck exhaled deeply and continued to look out the window.  “About a month ago, I had a seizure.”

            “What?!” She asked.  Why was this something she was having to draw out of him a line at a time.  “You had a seizure?  But why?  You have always been healthy.”

            “And I still am,” her dad said proudly.  “Mostly.”

            “Mostly?”

            He bit his bottom lip. “I have been seeing my doctor quite regularly and been taking all sorts of tests.  They just don’t know why I had another one.”

            “Another one?” she asked.  “What do you mean, another one?”

            “Well, I had one over a year ago.  But it seemed to be an isolated incident.  I was just getting ready to be medically cleared when this one happened.”

            “Dad,” she said and wished that she had waited until they were alone in the house to have this conversation.  No, she wished he would have told her last year when the first one happened and a month ago when he had the second one.  But he didn’t.  So, now she wished they were alone because she wanted to react naturally not politely because someone else was with them.  “You should have told me.”

            “If you knew, it wouldn’t change anything.  I’d still be going through the same process.  All it would change is your worry time.  You were able to focus on your life and what you needed to in New York.  I didn’t want to give you another worry.”

            This confession hurt more than anything.  He was trying to protect her but robbed her of having a connection with him. The truck pulled into her dad’s driveway and Matt turned off the engine.

            “I’ll get your bags,” Matt said. 

            “I can get them,” she said flatly.  “Despite what some people here think,” she narrowed her eyes at her dad, “I’m not some spoiled brat or princess that can’t handle real life things like getting my own bags or hearing concerning news.”

            Matt nodded. 

            Turns out, getting her bags out from the back of the truck was not a smooth process.  She had to climb up into it which was not easy for someone who claimed to be 5 feet 4 inches but was closer to 5 feet 2 inches. It was awkward for her. It was awkward for Matt to watch.  Her dad ducked into the house which made her feel even more awkward to be with a stranger while she was upset with her dad.  She took out her frustration on her bags.

            “Don’t be too hard on him,” Matt said after she jumped down from the truck and closed the tailgate.  “He meant well.”

            She glared at Matt.  

            “I mean,” Matt continued, “it was messed up.  He totally should have told you.  But his heart was in the right place.”

            Her face softened to hear Matt agree with her.  “I know,” she said.  “He always does.  Thanks for taking care of him though.”

            Matt nodded understanding he didn’t know the history of this family.  He only knew the stories Chuck would share when they ate dinner together. “Anyway, welcome back.” He walked to the front of the truck and opened the door.  “Hey, a few of us do a movie club if you want to join.”

            “Movie club?” she asked.

            “It’s like book club but instead of reading a book we watch a movie.  Then we meet together and discuss it.  Sometimes we watch it again at the meeting.  This month’s meeting is Friday night and we’ll be discussing Joe Versus the Volcano if you want to join.”

            She smiled.  “Thanks, but I think…”

            “You can’t be busy yet.  You just got here.” He returned a warm smile.

            She shrugged her shoulders.

            “C’mon, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s first movie together.  Think about it.  You can let me know later at dinner.”  He climbed in the truck and backed out of the driveway.

            “Wait,” she said.  “What about dinner?”

            He was already gone though so she turned to look at the house where her dad disappeared to.  She walked slowly into the kitchen and looked around.  Talk about things that seemed the same.  The only thing different was the paint was a shade lighter than before.  If she wasn’t so familiar with the place she wouldn’t have noticed though.

            “Dad?” she called out.

            He walked into the kitchen smiling as if he didn’t just drop a truth bomb moments before.

            “I’m so glad you’re here, honey,” he said and hugged her again. 

            “Dad,” she said repeated after the embrace. “What is going on?”

            “Not much to tell you about at the moment.  Just waiting to hear back from the doctor.  But rest assured, I have been well tested.” He rubbed his forearm tenderly.

            “But…” she said.

            “No good comes from worrying about the unknown today,” he said.  “We can set that down and pick it up tomorrow if need be.”

            She pushed her lips together and nodded.  “It’s just that you’ve had a head start on processing all this.  You need to allow me to catch up.”

            He nodded and took a glass out of the cupboard.  “Fair enough.”

            She sighed.

            “Water?” he asked and she shook her head.  She watched him fill up the glass.

            “You’re drinking water?” she scrunched her nose.  “You never drink water.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink anything other than soda.”

            “Soda?” he cocked his eyebrow and took a big gulp.  “Ma’am, here in these parts we call it pop.”

            She rolled her eyes.  “Fine, but you are drinking water?”

            He nodded and placed the empty glass on the counter.  “Kidney stones can make you change your mind about drinking pop, er, soda.”

            “What?” she asked. “When did you have a kidney stone?”

            He shrugged.  “About eight years ago.”

            She closed her eyes.  “You had a kidney stone eight years ago and you never told me?”

            “I had my first kidney stone eight years ago and I never told you.  But in all fairness, you never asked.”

            Her mouth dropped open.  “We talked weekly.  I always asked how you were doing, you always said, ‘fine, honey’ or ‘fit as a fiddle.’  You never mentioned kidney stones…” she took a deep breath, “or seizures.”

            “Ah, but you never asked about those things specifically.  If you had asked me if I ever had a kidney stone I would have said, ‘why, yes, yes I have and I don’t recommend it’.”

            “That’s ridiculous.  Of course I would never ask you about something specifically if I wasn’t aware it was an issue.  That is not a valid loophole.”

            “You had other things to worry about besides your dad.  Besides, after your mom passed, I didn’t want you to think you had to take care of your feeble dad.”

            She held her face in her hands.  “But you’re my dad!”

            “And you’re my daughter.  Now that we have our roles covered let’s talk about something else.”

            She knew him well enough to know this meant the conversation was over for now.  “Fine,” she mumbled but this was not over for good.

            “That Matt Jenkins is a good kid, isn’t he?” he asked.  “He’s the town attorney and has an office in our historic downtown.  Most people think that’s an odd choice and that he should have been in the newer development but he insisted on staying downtown.”

            “Great,” she replied not really listening to the DL on his neighbor.

            Her dad nodded and started to walk out of the kitchen.  “He said you went to school together.  Do you remember him?”

            “What?” she hollered back only catching the last part of the question.

            “Do you remember Matt?” he called from the hallway.  “He said he was a year behind you in school.”

            She thought for a bit.  “Nope, don’t remember him.”

            He walked back into the kitchen wearing an apron.  “Maybe if you looked at your yearbook.”

            She sized him up and repressed a giggle.  The apron was one of her mom’s and was much too small for him. “I didn’t keep any of my yearbooks.”

            “Oh,” he said looking a little sad.  “That was a waste of money buying them for you every year.”

            She shrugged her shoulders.  “Sorry, do you want me to pay you back.”

            He smiled again and waved her off.  “Funny.”

            “Dad, what are you doing?”

            “Oh, I’m trying a new recipe for dinner tonight and I tend to make a mess when I try something new.”

            “Wow,” she said.  “When did you become a master chef?”

            “When your mom passed, I had to step up.  I usually make dinner for Matt in exchange for him helping out around the house.  He takes care of the lawn and helps with some chores.  It was his idea to paint the kitchen a lighter shade of green.  Do you like it?”

            She nodded.  “It looks great.  So, he is coming for dinner?”

            “Of course,” he said.  “He always does.”

            Lizzie took a deep breath.  “So, there will be three of us?” She was hoping to resume their conversation at dinner.

            Her dad nodded and focused on the recipe.  “Four actually.”

            “Four?” she asked.  “Who else is coming?”

            It took a moment for him to answer. “My girlfriend, Sharon.”

            “What?” Lizzie asked.  This obviously was a body snatcher case because this man standing in the kitchen with a too small apron on was not the same man she talked to weekly.  The man she talked to every Sunday never mentioned things like medical conditions or…she closed her eyes… girlfriends.

            “I imagine you have some questions for me,” he said while looking over the recipe.

            “Actually, just one.”

            He started to dig out a pot from the cupboard.

            “Do you understand English?”

            He looked at her surprised.  “Of course.”

            “Then why did you never talk to me during our weekly phone calls?”

Chapter III

Chapter I