Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59659 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 298(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
“Did she keep anything?” I asked.
The mover shrugged. His name was embroidered to his shirt, along with the logo of the mover’s company.
“Dunno,” Gary said. “She kept pointing and pointing and pointing, and we moved it all out. If there’s something you don’t want, I can take it to the Goodwill for a fee.”
“Well, let’s take a look first,” I said, wondering if Gary’s definition of ‘Goodwill’ was his house.
Not that it mattered. If he wanted it, he could have it as far as I was concerned. I didn’t have a need for a bureau or a doll cabinet.
Slowly, we went through the contents of the truck, pulling off the big pieces I certainly wanted to keep and putting them out by the front door.
A couple of hours later, everything was inside, and I paid a tip to the movers, partly for being as good as they were at their job and partly because they were going to be taking at least half that stuff away. Once they left, I went back inside and looked at my time-warping house.
Some of the items were clearly mine, dark oak and chestnut furniture Sarah and I had picked out together in the good days of our marriage. The guest room bed was now in the bedroom, taking the spot of the queen-sized one that had been there which was now mostly in the shed and partially sitting against the wall. My television stand was in the living room now, which was nice since it was somewhere for the Xbox to sit.
But the real change, the one that mattered, was the recliner sitting in the middle of the living room. Battered, torn, beaten up, and stained, it represented ten years of gameday television watching, movie marathons, and video games. It was my favorite piece of furniture, and it had pained me to stick it in the basement, so that it wouldn’t get tossed.
Settling down in the most comfortable seat I had ever been in, I pulled out my phone, ordered a pizza, and cracked open a beer. I deserved a night off.
6
MELANIE
Blowing past Amy was probably the meanest thing I had done in a long time. Amy was a sweet girl and didn’t deserve me being rude to her. I just couldn’t stick around, though. Amy was good at her job, and I had every confidence that she would be able to handle any situation that came by until Norma showed up to take the late afternoon shift.
Norma was not a woman to take bullshit either. I’d leaned on her often when I first got into management because she had been there forever. The only reason she wasn’t the store manager herself was because she had a very specific schedule she was willing to work and nothing else. Instead, she’d trained me and had been my backbone for years.
It made me feel pretty shitty to keep ignoring her calls like this.
I had to be careful how I responded. It could be a pretty explosive situation, honestly. If I caused enough of a stink about it, it was possible some of the employees that the business depended on would quit. While that would be emotionally gratifying, it was extremely short-sighted if I planned on continuing my bid to get it back. As much as I wanted to flip tables and burn my uniform, I was still fighting for my rights, and that would certainly not help.
But I was too emotional to talk just yet. So, Norma would have to wait. My guess was she came in, heard the story from Amy, and figured she would give me a call and get to the bottom of it.
She was a particular kind of bulldog when she wanted to be.
Deciding to put the phone on silent, I sat in my car and stared at the park where I had ended up. When I left, I had all the intentions in the world of going home, starting a bubble bath, and possibly drinking the rest of the bottle of wine that I’d opened last night for dinner. Instead, I made it about six blocks and pulled off.
The park overlooking a playground and a large grassy area was a special place for me. Dad used to take me there at least once a week, usually on Saturday mornings when Mom would work the afternoon shift. Dad would work the mornings while Mom stayed home, then Mom would take me to the store, switch with Dad, and then go to the park. Then, Grandma would pick me up, and Dad would go back for the evening shift with Mom.
I spent so many good days there that when they died, I used to come and do exactly what I was doing now, sitting in my car and just breathing in the air of the freshly cut grass. I also bawled my eyes out. Back then, it was for the loss of my parents, and right now, it was for the loss of the one thing that kept us connected.