Page 22 of Daring to Surrender

She grinned. “Oh. I guess that was lost in translation. Do you mind if I get out?”

They both got out of the truck and Dozer gave her time and space as she stood at the front of his truck and took the entire area in. Across the street were a few houses that had seen their better days.

She took her phone out and snapped a few pictures before walking to the sidewalk and looking both ways. Again she snapped pictures of the unimpressive sights. With her beautiful smile faded, she slowly made her way back to the truck. “I can’t believe it’s all gone. But those houses across the street look old enough to have been here when my mom was. Maybe she saw them every day on her way into and leaving work. And this sidewalk. It might be new, but she could have walked here sometimes. And the parking lot isn’t the same I know, but my dad could have stood right here when he saw my mom coming out of Obie’s in a harem girl costume.”

He wanted to ask about the costume, but reliving her parents’ past was becoming emotional to her, so he left it alone for another time. Instead he offered, “I’m sure you’re right. Maybe you’ll have better luck at the next place.”

“After my grandmother passed, my mom sold everything and bought a small duplex on Holden Avenue, but the house she grew up in, the one she was forced to sell, is the place she still considers home. Let’s go there next,” she called out the street name and house number.

He flinched slightly, recognizing the address. She was going to be disappointed again, but he couldn’t tell her. It would be better to see it for herself anyway. “Sure, I know right where that is. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 9

Janel

“It’s gone too.” Janel stood in the parking lot of a new medical building, staring at the impressive three-story brick building. This was where her mother’s house should have been. It’s like her mom’s past had been erased.

“I’m sorry, Jane. I know it doesn’t help, but change like this means the town is growing from what it once was.”

She acknowledged that was true, but she still found it sad that she wouldn’t be able to see the diner and her mom’s house. Places she’d heard about all her life. “I should have realized a lot could happen in over thirty years. I never should have expected time to stand still.”

“It rarely does, but do you really want it to?”

She shrugged and admitted, “I suppose you’re right.”

“Come on. I have an idea,” Dozer said, and started for the truck.

With one more look at the building, Janel followed Dozer. It took five minutes until they pulled into a school parking lot. Janel was confused why he brought her to Pikeville Elementary. The school was on the newer side, much too modern for her mother and aunt to have attended.

There were half a dozen yellow school buses in a separate lot and an American flag flying on a flagpole in front of the main doors. School was in session, which confused her. “Why are we here?”

“This school has gone through a lot of growing pains over the years. The original school was built in the 1950s. The second remodel happened in the 70s, and then this remodel happened in 2000. They not only remodeled the existing school, they also added on. I’m assuming that might be the school your mother and aunt attended.”

Thinking of the timeline, she nodded. “That works out about right.”

“Come on,” he said with a grin and again Janel found herself falling in step beside him. They followed a sidewalk that led them around the school to the back where he stopped before a building that obviously was older than the main school structure. “This is part of the original school building. I think it was once the fifth-grade wing of the school. There’s four classrooms and a big open space for the entire grade level to assemble. When I went to school here, they used it as an educational training center for teachers and a community center for special events. I imagine that’s what it’s still used for.”

Her lips pulled upward. This was the connection she’d been looking for. “So my mom would have been in the fifth grade in this building?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but I think so. One way to find out is to take some pictures and ask her.”

Janel couldn’t get her phone out of her pocket fast enough. She snapped a few of the front and immediately texted them to her mother. Looking at the time, she calculated the difference and knew it would be hours before her mother was awake. “I wish we could go in.”

“We can. It should be open. If it’s not, I happen to know the principal. Go on. Go take a look and I’ll wait out here.”

Her heart raced thinking of the possibility of standing where her mother once had. She started toward the building, but then paused and turned back. “Thank you, Dozer. This was very thoughtful and kind of you.”

He shifted on his feet and looked over at the playground, uncomfortable at her praise. “Well, don’t let it get around, okay. You’ll ruin my street cred.”

She really didn’t know what that meant, but the grumpy man didn’t fool her for a second. He was really a marshmallow inside, if you could get past the overly-toasted exterior. With a grin, she turned around and walked into her mother’s past.

The first thing that hit her when she opened the door was the smell. She never went to a formal school, other than college, but she imagined the combined smells of polished wood floors, glue, leather, chalk, and bound books would be the same everywhere.

Just as Dozer had described, there were four rooms arranged as classrooms and a large gathering room with a few tables set up and more folded and leaning against the wall. There was also a rack of folding chairs that could be taken down and used as needed. Those things she knew weren’t from her mother’s time, but the classrooms she went in could have been. Now they had modern desks and the chalkboards had been switched out to dry erase boards. She touched the doorway, knowing her mother could have touched it in the same spot she had her hand. She walked over to the window and looked out the wavy glass her mother could have gazed out of when she was supposed to be listening to the teacher.

She went through all four classrooms and two bathrooms—one marked girls, and one marked boys—both had the smallest toilets and sinks she’d ever seen. She didn’t know what she’d expected to find or feel by visiting the place that had formed her mother into the incredible woman she was today. A calmness settled over her and she took a seat at one of the children’s desks.

Her time in America wasn’t anything like she’d imagined. She hadn’t discovered anything about herself she didn’t already know. The most exciting part of her trip, she glanced at the window and her gaze landed on Dozer, was meeting him. He’d taken a seat at a bench beneath a willow tree in the shade. Being around him made her feel again. Not knowing if she was going to get grouchy Dozer or kind, thoughtful Dozer made her want to find out even more about the man. Those weren’t the only emotions he stirred in her. She wanted to know the touch of his hands and the feel of his lips on hers. And more.

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