Page 97 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Did your mother ever talk about your grandmother?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “That is what is odd. My grandfather made it sound like they were both devastated over my grandmother’s death and grief caused my mother to act out.”

“You don’t believe it?” she asked, taking a bite of her burger.

“I’m not sure. If my mother grieved that much, why didn’t I know about it?”

“You weren’t born,” she said. “Then you were a kid. Or maybe your father didn’t want her to talk about it?”

“Could be a lot of that. I’ve gotten ten years in. There weren’t a lot of entries. They seemed to be clustered when he was having her looked into and updated. When he met me.”

“How did that make you feel?” she asked.

“Not sure. He wrote it like a proud grandfather and that he hoped my mother and he could get back on track. Then there was nothing and months later an entry that my father was up to his old ways again and turning my mother against him.”

“Did he say why?” she asked.

“From what I can gather it has to do with control. My father always had to be in control. He felt my grandfather was a big talker and couldn’t put his money where his mouth was and my mother would be better off without him. I did read one part that my grandfather wished he was around more, but he was trying to build his legacy.”

“I’d say he did it,” she said.

“At the expense of a relationship with his daughter,” he said.

“You only know that by thirty minutes of reading or less. There is a lot more there.”

“I know,” he said. “I want to open another envelope. It feels as if there is a thumb drive in it.”

“Files?” she asked. “Or a video?”

“I’m hoping it’s a video so I can hear a voice. But he wanted me to open these in stages so shouldn’t I read the journal first?”

“Nope,” she said. “You need to do things the way you want to do them for you. They want you to be open-minded so they have to accept you’ll do this at your pace and the way you want.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t know what I’m doing and I’m only having mind games with myself,” he said, closing one eye at her.

“I’d rather believe they are coming to you in your dreams, but that’s just me.”

“You’re romantic that way,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever thought I was romantic,” she said. “But hey, we can go with it.”

They were still eating their dinner. “You like to go with the flow, don’t you?” he asked.

“I never thought one way or another. I think with my job I can’t always do that so it’s nice to be able to do it in life. I just find that a lot of people I’ve been around in my life don’t appreciate my sense of humor or how I behave.”

“That’s their problem then, isn’t it? Or is it an issue with your family?”

“My family is fine with it. I know when to be respectful. I think it’s more friends over the years and when I dated. I tried to tone it down, but it’s hard.”

“It’s always hard to be someone you’re not, Kelsey.”

She thought that too. Which was why the older she got the more she didn’t give two craps what people thought of her. But she knew that was also part of why she was single too.

Maybe she didn’t bend or compromise enough.

“If you want to open the next one, I say you do it.”

“After dinner,” he said. “Then I’ll bring you home. Poor Frankie.”

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