I waved him off, checking to see if I saw the Camry.
It was her. She’d gotten out of her car, and I watched her slim figure open her trunk to pull out her overnight bag. She wrestled with it, finally freeing it, and then pulled it to the sidewalk that led to her steps. She glanced up and our gazed locked.
My heart jumped.
My hands shook.
My body hummed at the thought of seeing her again.
I pushed the gate open that led to the front of the house and walked over to her.
Sunny
WE FINALLY ARRIVED IN ATLANTA.
I dropped an exhausted Mimi off at her apartment. After carrying in her things and walking through her place to make sure all was well, I gave her a hug and thanked her for being with me for the trip.
She cupped my face with wrinkled hands and kissed me on the forehead. “It meant everything to me. Being with you. Seeing your mama’s grave. You handled yourself like a lady, hon. I’m proud of you.”
I nodded, my throat clogged, recalling the visit.
Leaving Mimi at a hotel, I’d headed up the curvy road to his house, my head in jumbles, not knowing what to expect.
What I got when I walked in the door was a host of memories—good and bad.
Walks in the woods. Happy times around the piano. Family dinners.
Then my mom left us and everything changed.
The house reeked of loneliness, and I wasn’t surprised. After my mom, he’d never even glanced at another woman.
He lay reclined on a hospital bed, sleeping from his medication, his face and body shrunken. I knelt down next to him and waited for him to wake.
His eyes opened at two in the morning. With a slight turn of his head, his gaze found mine.
At once, I was glad I came.
Because no matter his demons and the darkness they’d caused, he was my father.
I hadn’t known how it would feel to look at him again.
But I had no hate for him. How could I? That emotion was too destructive. Too ugly.
And I wouldn’t allow it to be part of who I was.
I was saying goodbye and I was going to mean it.
He wasn’t able to speak. Instead he pulled his thin hand out from the covers and showed me a crumpled postcard. His eyes were tremulous and watery, pleading with me.
Feeling confused, I took it, flipping it over to read. Scrawled in my sloppy nine-year-old handwriting was a card I’d dropped in the mail to him from summer camp, a sappy little message from a daughter that told her daddy how much she missed him.
So long ago when we’d been a real family.
And he’d kept it.
My stomach clenched.
Stunned. That’s how I felt.
“I forgive you,” I said, my heart aching.
For him. For me.
For a family that had cracked right down the middle.
Relief flooded his face as if a burden had been lifted. He closed his eyes and wept.
The rest was a blur. He’d passed a few hours later. I sat with him alongside my cousin who’d been caring for him and a hospice nurse.
Mimi’s voice brought me back.
“You going to talk to Max, right?” she asked as I made my way out the door. “He loves you, ya know. I see it. Only one man ever looked at me the way he does you and that was my husband.”
“Of course. Now get some rest.” I waved goodbye, got in my car, and drove home.
And now there he was—coming across the street, looking ridiculously gorgeous in jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair flowed around his shoulders. My Viking.
It may have only been a few days apart from him, but it felt like a lifetime.
I let go of my luggage, sucked in a deep breath, and prepared myself.
What was going to happen to us?
“Sunny,” he called, his eyes full of questions as they roamed my face. He came to a halt in front of me. “I’m so damn glad you’re back where you belong.”
I nodded, feeling anxious and trying to shake it off. We had so much to talk about. “I just got in. It was a long trip.”
“But you’re here now.”
“Yes.”
A loud cheer came from his house, and I looked over his shoulder, taking in the line of cars and the glow from the lights in his backyard.
I started. Oh.
I looked back at him. “Max! The announcement . . . I’d almost forgotten. Are you a finalist?”
He shrugged broad shoulders. “I don’t know.”
My mouth parted. “You don’t know? Why not?”
His gaze zeroed in on mine. “Because I wanted to see you. Everything else can wait—even the Heisman.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“I’ve thought about us a lot . . .” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets. “I guess we should talk.”
“Yeah.”
“I found your pregnancy test. I—I guess that’s what you wanted to tell me. Right?”
My eyes widened. What? How had he—
“I found it when you asked me to make sure you’d locked up. The only thing missing is the test strip.”