Homecoming (25 page)

No doubt she’d try to get him to talk about Mitch. That was a given. A heaviness centered in his chest as visions of the last three days flashed through his mind, mingling with flashes of his own childhood. He liked the kid, and he vowed he would see him soon, tell him the truth that he knew, explain to Mitch that the ache in his heart would never go away, but that he’d find a way to live with it; that no matter what he thought right now, he would find his own way to get through it.

He could do for Mitch what no one had done for him, the only thing he could do. It wouldn’t erase his shortcomings with the boy, but he’d reach out the best he could. As he’d gotten older, he’d wished someone had talked to him about it when his mom had died, but no one had, forcing him to figure it all out on his own. He could at least share that much with Mitch.

Looking back on his struggle, he was a little amazed at how he’d found his own way—and that even included his old man coming back into his life and being thrown into small town life after the hubbub of a large city. Everything had changed; the smells and sounds, the security and the familiarity...all of it had crashed down around him in a matter of days.

And now Mitch’s experience would most likely mirror his own. He’d do whatever it took to get Mitch to listen to him. The one thing he could do for him was share some of his own experience.

But the boy was only six, he’d been ten. He rubbed his hand over his mouth. He needed more than one quick conversation with him. When he got back to town, he’d have to find out from Ted and Sara if his suspicions were valid—that soon Mitch would be shipped east to live with his old man and his new wife and kid. If need be, he would visit Mitch there. Whatever it took, he aimed to have an impact on the boy.

And Cory...pretty Cory. The last three months had been filled with the wonder of a woman who had shared his unexpected path, had shared something special, and at the same time snuck into his heart when he wasn’t looking. But, he needed to let her go. She wanted too much that he couldn’t give.

And she deserved all of it.

And then a thought hit him, sending his heart racing again. He’d give her his half of the house. She could keep the cats if she wanted to, and easily stay in Faythe just like she dreamed of. And he would get himself back to Chicago, back to the world of Think Tank where he belonged.

It was a perfect plan.

***

Jake slowed his Porsche as he entered the city limits of Faythe, his eyes darting to the Mabel’s Board and Care sign. As he slowed the car, he saw the porch was empty, save one.

His old man.

Okay, I’ll stop, say my goodbye. I’m in a foul mood anyway. Seems like a good idea
. Get it all over with at once. He felt like crap anyway and he might as well finish the day on the lowest possible note, so it would only be up from there.

He pulled to a stop at the curb and hopped out of the car, covering the distance to the porch in a few quick steps.

“Hi, Pop,” he said as he stood in front of his chair, crossing his arms against his bare chest.

“You the new gardener? You’re going to have a time with the dandelions here.”

“It’s me. Jake.” He peered into his father’s eyes, seeing only a blankness he hadn’t seen in his last visit.

“My, my...seems like I knew someone named Jake once. Sit down, sit down, let me see if I can remember.” He pointed to the chair next to him and Jake lowered himself into it.

“Pop?”

“Oh, call me Ralph. Nah, I can’t remember, but that’s nothin’ new. Can’t remember if I had breakfast today, but I can remember stuff happened to me when I was young. Crazy, huh?”

Jake nodded, not knowing what to say.

“Yah, I remember all the stupid mistakes I made too. Isn’t that nuts? Wisdom wasted on me when I’m too old to do shit about it.” He shook his head, then wiped his hand across his mouth.

Jake stared at the movement, instantly recognizing it, his stomach in knots.
I am like him.

“Sometimes I get to wishin’...if I could only go back and change things... I would, you know. I had me this woman.”

Here it comes.

“I didn’t have a lick of sense in those days. Drowned myself in beer; would rather drink with the boys instead of going home to a woman who was just tryin’ to love a bastard like me. Had to marry her; in those days, that’s what you did, right? Lost that first one anyway, though. Then it took her three tries, but she finally dropped a kid.”

Jake nodded.

“What was I supposed to do with a young wife and a baby? Shit, I thought I’d probably break the kid if I held him. You got any kids?"

“Nope. Not married.” It was almost surreal to Jake, talking with his old man as a stranger would. Cory’s words came to him then, reminding him how the disease at least took away some of the suffering because the person didn’t realizing how much they didn’t remember.

“I’m telling you right now, boy, get married if you find someone who can tolerate ya!” He leaned close to Jake, then jabbed a finger at his chest, waiting for a response.

“Okay,” Jake said, pushing the finger away.

“Good. We
need
women; we’re all bastards without them. I know.” His voice softened a little as he continued. “I didn’t know what to do with her, you know? How could she love a bastard like me? What did that say about her? And the boy...I didn’t even know how to—” His voice faded as he dropped his head and whimpered, tears rolling down his creased cheeks.

Jake looked around until he spotted some tissues on a nearby table, and pulled out a few and handed them to his father, and waited.

“Yah—you listen to this old man, son, and don’t do what I did. I’d give anything to go back. I’d love her pants off.” He giggled and slapped his knee with one hand, and then stopped as suddenly as he’d started, his face sobering. “And I’d have figured out how to love my boy. I just didn’t know how.”

Jake stared into his father’s eyes, eyes that didn’t know him; amazed at the fact that because he didn’t, it allowed the words he’d always longed to hear to come tumbling out of his father’s mouth.

“You hear a word I been sayin’, boy?”

The voice sounded mean again, and he watched his father’s face transform, eyes now narrowed and his mouth an angry slash across his wrinkled face.

“Who are you?
Go away
!”

Jake jerked back, shocked at the speed at which his father’s personality had shifted. No matter—through the fog, his father’s heart had spoken, and in that moment he thought he might be able to forgive him.

“See you later, Ralph.” Jake touched his father’s shoulder and the old man looked up at him with frightened eyes. Then his face relaxed and a crooked smile formed.

“See ya. Don’t be a stranger.”

An emotion he couldn’t quite name filled Jake, and he knew it wouldn’t be his last visit. He sat in his car for a moment, still amazed at how different he felt, then started the engine and headed back to Tillie’s house...no,
Cory’s house
. The thought made his mood even more buoyant and he hoped like crazy that Cory would be there.

He had so much to tell her.

No heaven will not ever Heaven be,unless my cats are there to welcome me.

Unknown

Chapter 17

Cory finished writing the note to Jake, then put it on the kitchen table where he’d be sure to find it. She heard Ted softly tap his horn. They’d need to leave right now in order to be on time for his appointment at the funeral parlor.

He’d been visibly relieved and Sara had nodded her agreement when Cory had offered to go with him and help with the arrangements. Sara would stay home with Molly and Mitch and be there to answer the phone, which had already begun ringing with calls of sympathy.

Word had traveled quickly. Like any small town, everyone got involved in weddings and funerals; both requiring food and phone calls. Cory envisioned Sara’s refrigerator would soon begin filling up with casseroles and bundt cakes, and then the flowers would start coming.

She wished Jake had been home when she’d had Ted stop by. She’d wanted to check his mood, reassure him that Mitch was doing okay; instead she’d have to make do with a short note.

She positioned the paper in the middle of the table and looked around the kitchen. Now all it needed was a family to enjoy it. It—and the whole house—had turned out so perfectly.

***

Jake guessed by looking at the house that she probably wasn’t there.
Damn
. He’d had just the right words on his tongue, and now they’d be wasted unless he decided to practice them on the cats.

He opened the door and saw Winston in his cat-sentry position guarding the hallway. “Well, where is she?” Jake ducked his head into the parlor and living room, seeing no sign of her. “Cory?” He knew he was wasting his breath but it felt kind of nice just saying her name out loud.

Emptiness answered, and he made his way to the kitchen where, if she’d left a note, it would likely be on the table. It had become their communication spot, ever since that first note that had been the beginning of the end of his deception.

He sighed a heavy breath. So much had happened between them, so many emotional ups and downs. And yet, she was always ready to get through whatever it was, move on and forget about it.

He would miss that.

Spying the note, he picked it up and read it fairly easily. Without the added pressure of feeling nervous, he found his reading came much easier and he could call on the mental tools he’d learned over the years that helped keep his brain on track.

It was just like her to help cushion Ted from having to make all the decisions on his own by tagging along with him to the funeral parlor. Had she taken care of all the details for Tillie too? He’d never even thought to ask; another item to add to his apology to her...his ‘thank-you speech,’ he’d begun to think. At this rate, he’d need to schedule a friggin’ all day meeting in order to tell her everything he wanted her to hear.

The doorbell rang, and Jake dropped the note to go answer it. When he opened the door, he saw a young boy, maybe twelve, standing at the edge of the steps holding a dollar between his thumb and first finger. A bicycle lay on its side on the lawn, its front tire still spinning.

“You Mr. Randall?” he asked breathlessly.

“That’s me.”

“Mr. Weismann said if I found you before six o’clock and gave you a message he’d let me trade this dollar in for a five! I was just about to give up on finding you.”

“Well, good for you for trying once more—what’s the message?”

“Oh...right. He wants to talk to you tonight if you can go to his office at around seven. Can I tell him you’ll come?”

Jake nodded and watched the boy race down the steps, shove the dollar in a back pocket, and lift his bike up. He started running it down the street, one foot on a pedal, eventually swinging the other over the bar and finding the other pedal. He disappeared between two houses as he took a shortcut back toward town.

Glancing at his watch, Jake decided he had plenty of time to make a sandwich before the meeting; probably final papers to sign. And now he’d be asking Weismann to come up with a new set of papers, papers that would award the entire house to Cory.

A feeling of satisfaction filled him as he pivoted and headed back to the kitchen.

***

Jake rapped on the frosted glass of the attorney’s office door and listened for footsteps.

“Come in, come in,” Weismann said as he opened the door, then stuck out his hand. “Good to see you, Jake. So glad you could come over on such short notice.”

Jake followed the attorney into the office and sat in the same chair he’d sat in three months ago. He shook his head in amazement, once again, at how much his life had been affected by his visit to Faythe. He’d been filled with suspicions the last time he’d met with Tillie’s attorney, now he felt like Santa Claus, eager to get things started, eager to legally give his half to Cory

“Shouldn’t we wait for Cory to be here too?” Jake asked, settling into the chair, glancing at the empty one beside him.

“I’ll set another appointment for the both of you, but I needed to finish up some things that were meant for only you, per Tillie’s final requests.”

Only him? Jake watched as Weismann swiveled in his chair and scooted toward the tall filing cabinet. He pulled that same large manila envelope out of a drawer and put in on the desk.

“Oh, by the way, I heard about Ted’s sister. Shame, with her being so young and all. Heard her boy was staying with you and Cory at the house—that right?”

Jake nodded as he watched him dump the contents of the large envelope onto the desk. Out of it came the DVD and the three white envelopes. Now two were opened, the last one still sealed. He’d totally forgotten about the third sealed envelope and the DVD.

The attorney glanced up at Jake for a moment, then took the DVD and popped it into a compact television/DVD-player on a table at one end of the desk.

“What’s that?” Jake asked.

“Well, Tillie had me make a DVD of her. I kind of laughed when she asked me to do it, but now I’m thinking of offering it to everyone as part of making their will.” Weismann handed Jake the remote. “I’m going to let you watch this by yourself, son. I’ll be in the next room. Just knock on that door when you’re ready for me.”