Page 18 of Unforgotten

“I’ve got two of your nosy brothers and a sister within driving distance. They’ll stop by if I call them.”

“You know you won’t.”

“They’ve got families to tend to. Besides, Wallace and Jeanie have been coming over. I’m not on my own all that much.”

His father’s neighbors were good people, but friends and neighbors were just that. They weren’t family, which meantthat neither Wallace nor his wife were going to lose any sleep if Jack Mulaney wasn’t seen on a walk for a couple of days. “Why don’t you plan on coming down to visit?” Mentally calculating his paychecks, he said, “Maybe at Thanksgiving? I’ll have a couch by then.”

“I’ve got a couch here, son.”

“The weather’s good too. Folks have told me that I won’t have to worry about a jacket until October.”

“Ryan, you aren’t going to be needin’ me to wander around on the streets while you’re out working. Next thing we know, I’ll be picked up for jaywalking and mistaken for a vagrant.”

He laughed. “First of all, no one’s going to be taking you down to the police station for that. Secondly, I would be the one who picks you up, and I’ll let you cross the street wherever you want.”

“There’s that, I suppose.”

“You could try out some of the local fishing holes. We could have supper together.”

“I like being home, Ryan. Your mother’s things are all right here. You have to understand that.”

“I do.”

“Good. Now are you sure you can’t share anything good with me? You don’t have any good stories?”

Like always, his dad enjoyed hearing about his days. He used to light up whenever Ryan was involved in a particularly difficult case. “The only job out of the ordinary is that I’ve been escorting the current Miss Crittenden County to her various events around the area.”

As Ryan hoped, his father chuckled. “Good for you. I bet she’s a sweet young thing.”

“She is. Emphasis on sweet too. She’s a nice girl.”

“Does she have a man?”

“A boyfriend? I don’t think so. We haven’t got that far in our conversations.”

“You ought to do that, son. It’s time.”

During the same six-month span, Ryan’s mother had died of cancer and Chloe Anderson, his on-again-off-again girlfriend of three years, had broken up with him for good. Ever since then, he’d been in a fog. He knew it wasn’t just because Chloe had ended things, though the breakup had hurt. The fog wasn’t even because of his mother dying. She’d been fighting cancer for several years and had overcome a lot of obstacles, living a full two years longer than anticipated. But those two things, along with being passed up for a promotion, had made him eager for a change. He’d certainly gotten that here in Marion.

“I know, Dad. When I meet the right woman, I’ll know.”

“Maybe, though you might not know if it’s the right one at first,” he said in a soft tone. “You might even wonder if that person is the wrong one.”

Ryan chuckled. “Until she proves you wrong?”

“Or your heart gets involved. That’s what happened with your mother and me.”

All six of the kids in the family knew the story of their parents’ romance well. “Dad, you two were college sweethearts.”

“Not at first. At first, she was my French tutor.”

Loving the new, warm thread that crept into his father’s voice, Ryan felt the knot between his shoulders ease. “I don’t remember you telling me that, Dad.”

“Yeah. Foreign language was a requirement, and French sounded awesome. I, um, just had no idea how hard it was to speak.”

“And Mom knew how to speak French?” How come he’d never heard this? Or was it that he’d only listened with half an ear?

“Of course your mother knew. She was the smartest girl in her sorority. She started tutoring me on Wednesday nights.”

---