A Father's Journey Of Renewal And Embrace

Chapter 3 - To See Her Again..

"Yeah that's me, I'm stuffed.." I slam my burger on the table, the same way I had done this morning, and leaned back to catch myself a breather. That was stupid of me. I already had fry bread with boil-up this morning and now I'm stuffing my gut with a whole bunch of junk food. 

Fucking ridiculous, Richard.

I use the break as an excuse to let my mind overthink everything, my stomach rumbling uncontrollably from the full meal. What was it last night that she wanted to tell me? I was tired and couldn't be bothered hearing her out, maybe it was a mistake. Fuck sakes man, just get over it! She's obviously gotten over it now, just let it go, will ya? 

Yeah? Well, that's the thing... I'm not good at letting go. 

To be honest, I have a hard time at letting anything go. I mean, just look at me! I was fourteen when I found out I had Ricochet, and believe me, I lost it when my wife broke the news to me. And my wife, what about her? At the age of twenty, she passed away. My stomach didn't feel good about the anguish the memories caused me. Already, the thought of it was causing me a migraine.

"Sir? Are you finished with your meal?" My eyes opened as I became aware of my surroundings when a quiet voice spoke.

"What?"

"Your meal, sir?" She spoke again, but I was unable to see her. I looked to the side and saw a woman, who didn't appear to be much older than I am, waiting calmly and wearing an inpatient looking smile. Damn. I really was tired, huh?

The look of her face, though.. seemed... familiar.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I moved to the side so I could see the woman in front of me more clearly, but my eyesight remained hazy. All I saw was a fuzzy tanned face, rosy lips, and long, dark hair. 

No way.. surely I was hallucinating.

The woman moved a bit closer to the table and then looked at me, soon, my vision cleared up to see that her eyes were a dark brown. I was glad. She kinda looked just like her not too long ago... well, that would've been scary.

"Not that I know of, no, sorry." She replied with a confused smile. Shit. I guess she thinks I'm a creep now. I need to get out of here before my head does wonders to add onto my headache. 

"Oh, sorry, then. You just... reminded me of a woman I once had in my life.." I say, cleaning my table down and putting everything in one container to take home. 

I'll just give the leftovers to Ricochet when she gets home.

"Thank you for dining here sir! Come again soon!" The lady took my empty tray, ignoring my comment, and watched me leave through the doors. 

Well, that was rough..

I inhaled deeply, taking in the icy air, and then I exhaled, letting out a smoky-looking steam from my lips. I reached deep into the pockets of my pants to protect myself from the overwhelming cold. It wasn't very smart of me to be wearing a shirt in Autumn either. Damn it..

I went to my car, but my keys wouldn't work to unlock it. For fucks sake. Really? I glance around to make sure nobody was observing me, but as I do, I see a different woman browsing through her phone directly across the street.

I squinted my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things again.. but I wasn't. It was her..

From where I was standing, the woman had lovely tanned complexion, long, dark hair, and vibrant pink lips. I was just weary, I swear I was. This is merely a dream. Her face has been all over the place. I saw it in Ricochet, the woman at McDonald's, and now I'm noticing it in yet another unknown woman. 

After looking up from her phone, the woman turned to face another man, who approached her and gently drew her from her waist into an embrace, revealing her brown eyes to me. So it wasn't her..?  Doesn't matter. It still hurt.

Every lady I saw today had a face I recognised from another woman I had once loved. The sight of that familiar face being pursued by a different man made me cry inside and caused me to turn my head away from the younger pair and scowl slightly. Ouch.. well that hurt.

The blasted car took a while to unlock, but when it did, it clicked open and I was able to climb inside and turn on the heater—and boy, was it cold. The car's nose was pointing in the same direction as the couple, but I could still see their faces in the mirror—that one familiar face that made me grin before making me frown as they kissed.