Remember Us by Lindsay Blake & Layne James

Author:Lindsay Blake & Layne James [Blake, Lindsay & James, Layne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642790849
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2019-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

Bernice

“Carl, what the Sam Hill? You left me all day without so much as a note. You, you—” But he was dancing around the van, not listening to me at all.

“What’s up with the van, Dad?” Benjamin moved to thump on the hood of the bright orange VW.

“I’ve been scouring the newspaper sale section and calling all over Nebraska to find a VW, but didn’t find one until today. It is circa 1975 and was very affordable. It belonged to an old lady who’d only used it to visit the grocery store and church for the past forty or so years. When she died, the van only had 20,000 miles on it.” Carl stuck out his chest. “I bought it from her grandson.”

“A steal, Dad.” Reese looked unsure.

“Let’s circle back around to why you bought a van,” Benjamin said.

“We’re taking a road trip, kiddos.” Carl beamed at the twins and then moved his gaze to me.

I bolted down the steps. “Carl, I love seeing this raw, decisive you. I told you my cooking was good for the body and the soul!” I swooped beside him and ran a manicured finger over his cheek. “You bought our VW,” I breathed into his ear, and he squeezed my hand. “And it’s so… orange.” I tried to hide my shudder. I’d always imagined a nice blue. Or a pink. Even a fun green. Orange was so, well, orange.

I watched their faces as Carl outlined his plan—The Grand Adventure, as he called it. “We’ll take a simple two-day trip over to Mt. Rushmore and then back east to Chicago for a Cubs game. A week’s adventure, something special and bonding for the lot of us.” He made it sound so enticing with his quivering voice.

“Because we need another cliché in our life, right?” Reese looked put out. “Bucket list has already been done, Dad.”

“Reese, honey, I don’t know what that means, but I’ll pay for your change of ticket and write Charlie a personal note of apology for stealing you for an extra few days.” He dabbed his eyes. “We need some quality time together.”

“Because we haven’t spent the last two months breathing the same air? What if you have a relapse, Dad?” Reese crossed her arms.

“Ah, well, as a matter of fact, I did go see the doctor today.” Carl leaned against the van.

“And?” Benjamin and Reese spoke together like they used to do when they were little.

“Well.” Carl cleared his throat. “He told me I am in fact cancer free. I have a follow up appointment later in the month because there was one little—”

“WAY TO BURY THE LEAD,” I shouted and he twirled me around.

As Reese and Benjamin hugged their dad, I sobbed. It was like I didn’t even realize the weight we’d all been carrying until it lifted. I don’t know how long we stood there shouting and crying—it could have been an hour, maybe three. I focused through my tears to see Blake shake Carl’s hand. “Congratulations on the good news, sir.

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