Journey to Nowhere

History and Haggling

"You've been awfully quiet today." My coworker, Willow, remarked.

I let my hair out the irritatingly high ponytail and shrugged. My shift was over is 5 minutes.

"Just a lot on my mind." I mumbled. I'd been running through different ways to tell my parents about Uncle Ian for the last 6 hours.

"Do you wanna talk about it? We can go out for lunch at Grimaldi's, my treat." Willow said, throwing a thin Manila folder in the 'Forms' wall cubicle.

Willow was about 2 years older than me, working her way through college. She stood at an average 5'6" with jet black hair and dark green eyes. She was one of the few coworkers that I actually talked to.

"How about another time?" I have a few things to handle." I explained. I grabbed my brown bag and slung it over my shoulder.

"Can you do Wednesday?" She asked, gathering up her stuff. Usually we'd be leaving together on Monday but she'd chose to cover someone's shift, instead she got her lunch break.

"Yeah Wednesday sounds great, I gotta go grab some stuff from Amir but I'll see you Wednesday." I smiled and exited the back room.

"Ending out for today?" Amir, my supervisor,  asked as I approached him.

"Yeah but I need those books we talked about last week." I rested my elbows on the countertop and peeked by him.

"Those don't come in until tomorrow Lynea, sorry." He said, rubbing his neck.

I let out a disappointed sigh but nod, "that's fine. Just text me when they come in. I really them."

"And may I ask why? You've been bugging about these books for a month." Amir asked while rearranging the display jewels.

"No reason in particular." I state nonchalantly. Of the four books I had ordered I only needed one of them but it was impossible to buy it individually. Patrick raised one his thick, black eyebrows and narrowed his eyes.

"If you say so Lynea, I promise I'll text you. Have a nice day, see you Wednesday." He gave me a smile and returned to the jewel arrangement.

"See you Amir." I waved and headed out to the parking lot.

The great thing about working in an antique shop was you got any old or vintage items that you wanted for virtually nothing (of course there were exclusions). I had be buying old books from the shop for years but once I started working there I was buying larger book quantities at a faster pace.

Sliding into the driver's side of my silver P.T Cruiser, I tossed my purse into the passenger's seat. Starting the car, I drove away from lot, heading home.

~~~~~~
Walking into the house, I was surprised by how quiet it was. It wasn't until I reached the threshold to the living room that I could hear the hushed whispers of my parents.

"That's a stretch, don't you think?" Dad said.

"Of course it is, but it's better than nothing." Mom remarked, sounding defeated.

I walked into the living room and coughed quietly to get their attention.  "Hey mom, dad."

They both lifted their bodies from the hunched position and looked at me. "Lynea, how was work?" Dad asked warmly.

"Good, someone finally bought those two antique lawn gnomes." I said jokingly, walking over to the couch to sit beside Mom.

"Really now? I thought they'd be there for another 20 years." He joked, chuckling slightly.

I glanced at Mom whom had one of her 'stressed-but-trying-not-to-be' grins on her face. "How about you Mom? Was work good today?"

"Great honey." She smiled tightly.

The awkward tension had returned and I knew I'd interrupted something rather bad. Whatever was bothering Mom was most likely a touchy subject.

I thought back to my conversation with Stephen last night. "Speaking of telling people...have you told your parents about your uncle yet?"

Shifting the conversation to Uncle Ian might get Mom's mind or whatever was eating her. Hell, she might even know information about him that she never told me.

"Lynea?" Mom's light shove jolted me from my thoughts. "Did you hear your father?"

"Oh no, sorry. What's up?" I asked.

"I had asked about those books you'd ordered. I thought they'd be here by now."

"Oh. I asked Amir about them today, they won't be here until tomorrow." Which sucks. I needed those books two days ago.

"I see. Are you alright? You were pretty deep in thought a moment ago."

I took a deep breath. "...I just need the timing to be good." Well there's no time like the present.

"I think I found my biological mother's brother." I blurted out without a second thought.

It was silent before Mom opened her mouth, "Ian?"

My eyes nearly left my head as she said his name. "You know who he is?"

"Before we could adopt you they had to check if any of your blood relatives were alive and capable of taking you in. Ian was the only person they found, but he was never given custody of you."

"He's an alcoholic and a druggie." Dad stated suddenly coming off as irritated. "Not to mention his criminal record."

Criminal record? Alcoholic? Granted he didn't sound like a happy go lucky guy on the phone but I didn't get any druggie vibes from him.

"How exactly did you find him? We've been out of contact with him for over a decade."

I sighed, "Stephen and I found his number in an address book when I went to Stephen's for dinner."

"How did you know he'd be your uncle?" Dad said in disbelief.

"I didn't. It was shear luck." I hadn't been searching for Ian. I hadn't been looking for anyone in fact.  Nobody said anything for awhile. I couldn't determine whether I was confused or irritated.

"I was thinking about visiting him. In Georgia." I spoke slowly and quietly. Dad's jaw clenched and Mom just stared at me as if I had two heads.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Dad stated.

"I agree with your father. Ian could still be in a bad place, we wouldn't want to be put in that kind of environment."

This wasn't exactly the reaction I expected. My parents had always been supportive, even if I didn't succeed they continued to lift me up.

I needed to meet my uncle. A blood relative. Someone who knew my biological mother; someone who had been in contact with my sister. Regardless of his past this was my opportunity to reach out to my birth family.

"You guys could come with me." I offered trying to win them over. "You could keep an eye on him, get to know him." Ugh. I would have preferred some one on one time but this situation called for flexibility.

Dad looked at Mom. They had one of those silent conversations with their eyes. Mom narrowed her eyes and Dad let out a sigh.

"Go call Ian."

~~~~~~
Shorter than I hoped by a chapter is a chapter. Please vote and comment 💕