Don't Forget Me

Chapter 12

The next morning, my mom places two mugs of fresh coffee on the kitchen table.

"Hey, Dad, your coffee's ready!" I call out, but he doesn't answer. "He must be outside? I'll get him." I start to stand up, but my mom catches my arm.

"Actually, honey, your dad had to go into work," she says, frowning.

"But he said he was going to the appointment with us." I plop back down in my chair.

"He really wanted to. Work has just been so busy."

"It feels like he lives there now. I've been home for days but I never see him," I reply.

"He's been taking as many appointments as he can at the garage."

"Does that have anything to do with those?" I flick my eyes to the hospital bills that my mom has tactfully hidden behind a fruit basket on the counter. I don't know much about health care, but I imagine a two-week stay paired with whatever they did to my head doesn't come cheap.

She pulls the chair out across from me and slides onto it. "That's not for you to worry about. Okay? Here." She slides the orange mug toward me. "Drink your coffee."

"My coffee? Absolutely not. No thank you," I reply, scrunching my nose up.

"Oh, just try it. I added your favorite hazelnut creamer."

"Fine." I huff out a big sigh before I take a small sip and immediately drop the disgusted expression from my face. "Okay, that's actually not bad," I tell her, going in for a second slurp as her eyes crinkle over her green WORLD'S BEST MOM mug. I can't believe she still has that.

"Hey, speaking of your dad, I have to run over to the church before your appointment. Why don't I drop you off at the garage to have lunch with him? Then I'll pick you up when I'm done and we'll go to the doctor."

I remember all the times Mom and I would pack up dinner and bring it to him on nights when he was stuck there late. The three of us would huddle together in his tiny back office, before he would take me through the garage to show me all the cars he was working on at the time. I was never particularly interested in how to replace brake pads, but it was always nice to see him in his element, wanting to teach me a thing or two. Plus, it's somewhere new to try to jog a memory. "Yeah, that sounds really good," I reply.

.........

I know I don't have to worry about what will be different about Park's Auto Repair, because that place hasn't been updated since my dad bought it ten, or I guess twelve, years ago. Sure enough, I spy the same blue plastic chairs in the waiting room. Same chunky television sitting in the corner of the office next to the same rust-stained refrigerator with the door you have to lift with your foot to shut.

"I'll be right there." A man's voice calls from underneath an old Ford pickup. Gruff and smoky.

"Hey, Uncle Chuck, it's just me," I reply. I have no idea why I call him that since he's not really my uncle, but immediately the sound of the ratchet stops and he rolls into view on a mechanic's creeper.

"Roseanne?" he says as he sits up. His face is even more leathery than I remember, but his smile is still the same oddly endearing one I've always known.

"Is my dad around?" I ask, wondering why he's looking at me that way, until I remember everything that's happened.

"You're okay!" He hops up quicker than an old man should and wraps me up in a hug. "I was so worried about you. My God, you grew up, kiddo." He holds me out at arm's length to get a good look at me before tugging me into another hug. He's acting like he hasn't seen me in a decade, but I'm the one who's basically watched him age two years overnight.