The Trials of Loving Her

Letting go of the Past Chapter 18

"It seems like she loved you more than anything," said Frank before taking his last mouthful of beer. He scribbled down some things on his paper and as I looked at what he was writing, I saw him sketching cartoon characters instead of anything I said.

"Shouldn't you be writing down ways to help me?" I asked as he looked at me with a grin.

"I have to confess something, kid," he said putting down his book, "I'm not a therapist," he confessed.

"Then why are you here?" I asked him as I got up.

"My granddaughter wanted me to help you out. I give good advice so she thought I'd be able to help."

"Who is your granddaughter?" I was curious. "Lucy," he answered.

"You're Helen's father?"

"Yup," he told me getting up. "It's been a pleasure getting to know you. We'll continue this tomorrow?"

"Is she paying you for this?" I wondered.

"Of course she does," he responded. "You think I like listening to you whine? It's a nice story, can't wait to hear the rest of it." He then walked out as I stood there shaking my head.

I took a shower after the old man left. I got dressed into black jeans and a white T-shirt, leaving my jacket behind. I left my room, and as I headed out the door I saw Lucy staring at my bike. As I approached her I noticed the tires on my bike had been aired down. She hands me a small yellow note that said, "This is the reason behind everything that ruined our lives." The note ended with Sera's name at the bottom.

"I'm so glad this is not my bike?" Lucy told me laughing.

"Would you do me a favour and have a bill made out in her husband's name? She's his problem now."

"Are you sure you want to include him in whatever it is that's happening between you and Sera?"

"She married him, he's already involved," I replied.

"Where were you heading off to anyway?"

"I wanted to visit dad's grave." When I said it, I saw her eyes trying to fight off the waterworks. She held it in as she threw her car key toward me.

"Drive safe, you can use GPS if you get lost. I stopped going a long time ago. I know he's not there. He's up in the clouds with the big guy."

"I wanna believe that but I don't. If there was a higher being I wouldn't have lost eight whole years of my life."

"People have lost far worse. I believe everything that has happened to you is to teach you something. Maybe you chose to love the wrong person in the wrong time."

"So you're saying Sera and I were wrong for each other?" I asked her.

"You gave her a choice to come back with you despite the pain she caused you by giving up on you. She didn't take it, Jace."

"And you think you know the answer."

"She stopped loving you the moment she met Arthur," Lucy said the words with surety. "You were her roadblock, Jace, and when you moved aside she met the man she was supposed to be with. She only came back to ask for forgiveness. She feels guilty nothing else."

"I believe you," I said, holding back my tears. "I'll tell dad you said hello."

I took her car and after twenty minutes of driving, I pulled up to what seemed to be a cemetery for the rich. They weren't any gravestones; instead they were small tombs that looked like homes. Some looked like miniature castles and others like Greek temples with statues of angles and warriors above it. As I drove through the road at the centre of the cemetery, I saw my dad's tomb with two statues of a motorcycle guarding his gothic style tomb. They were concrete benches that sat at the side of his limestone sarcophagus that had angles and cherubim carved all around with quotes from the bible written above it. There were two steel windows on each side that seemed to have never been open since being put there. I managed to open up one on each side for the fresh air to come in to get rid of the old smell. I placed some purple flowers upon his box while reading a small line that said, "Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened or dismayed, the lord is with you." As I read it, I began laughing and crying.