Before You Say Goodbye

38

It was almost the end of January when my father came back from his tour. Many things seemed different once he was back. My mom's smile visibly dimmed, Alan wasn't as playful anymore, and Roman didn't stay in the guestroom.

The most apparent of it all was my father's good mood.

He'd bought us chocolates, got mom a present, and promised to take Alan to a basketball game next week. It triggered every suspicion-inducing cells in my brain. It irked me to see him so happy.

He whistled an awful tune as he walked into the downstairs bathroom to take a much-needed shower. Apparently, there was a plumbing malfunction in my parents' bathroom and our plumber will only be available to fix it next week. Mom was in the kitchen cooking something special for her husband, and Alan was sleeping in my bed, his usual place every time our father was back home.

I was in my room, working on an English assignment when a phone started to ring – his phone. Rolling my eyes, I chose to ignore it. But when it persistently kept ringing, Alan groaned, pulling a pillow over his ears as he tried to go back to sleep. Sighing, I walked to my parent's bedroom and looked for his dumb phone that wouldn't stop ringing. And when I found it on top of the dresser, connected to the charger, I pressed on the ringer, silencing it. Huffing with relief now that the annoying ringtone was not echoing in my ears, I went to leave the room.

I wasn't even half out of the door when the phone started to ring again. With a grunt and completely giving up on a peaceful morning I had envisioned for myself, I walked back to the phone.

Lizzy calling...

Whoever this Lizzy was, she wasn't taking the hint. Annoyed, I answered the call, completely intending on keeping it short. I'll tell her my father was bathing and that I would let him know she'd called, but Lizzy had other plans. "Hello?"

"Oh, I thought Chad would pick the phone!" she giggled, and I felt the cringe shaking my entire body.

"Eh, he, he's bathing," I forced out, "I'll let him know you called."

"Thank you, Addie!"

I paused, my eyebrows pulling down in confusion, "You know me?"

"Of course, I do, dear," she said, "Your dad talks about you and Alan all the time."

"Okay..." I didn't know what else to say to this stranger, but something inside of me told me to pursue the conversation, see where it took me, "I, um, I'm sorry. Who are you?"

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line, and for a second I wondered if I had been rude to the woman in any way. "You don't know who I am?" she asked after about five whole seconds of silence.

"I know you're Lizzy – I saw your name on the phone screen when I answered, but no, other than that I don't know you. I'm sorry," I had no idea what I was apologizing for, "Am I supposed to know you?"

"Oh, no, uh, no, dear," she said, and I felt her voice shaking a little, "I was just under the impression that your father talked to you and your brother about me."

"What about you should he have told us exactly? Are you a friend? Are you guys working together, are you his business partner or something?"

"I think he should be the one to tell you, it's not my place-"

"Is it something only Alan and I have to know about, or should he tell my mom too?" my voice was sharp and even though I didn't know who this woman was, didn't understand completely what we were talking about, a part of me knew what my father had done. "Do you want to talk to my mom, maybe? She's downstairs if you want me to call her."