Page 11 of Fever: Love In Scrubs
I nodded as I pulled out my sanitizer again. He pushed my father back into the cooler and closed the door. I followed him over to the desk where the paperwork was. I felt like I was signing his life away as I wrote my signature.
“That’s it?” I asked, quietly.
“That’s it. You take care of everything else with the funeral home.”
“Thank you.”
I started toward the door, but he stopped me.
“Ms. Driscoll?”
I turned back. “Yes?”
“Again, I’m sorry for your loss. I know there isn’t much I can say to comfort you right now, but I do pray you find peace.”
“Thank you. My dad and I… we’ve never had a great relationship, but he was the only parent I had. Of course, I loved him. I just… the way he chose to live, even with me there, causeda rift between us and it was never repaired. I’m… I’m struggling right now.”
I didn’t even know why I was spilling my guts to this man right now.
He gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry to hear that. I read the initial report so I know a little of the way he was living. My prayers are with you and your family. I doubt we’ll ever see each other again, but know that.”
“Thank you, Dr. Pierre. I really appreciate that. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
He offered a warm smile as I walked out the door. I took the solemn walk back to my car and climbed inside. For a moment, I just sat there, reality finally settling in.
I had to bury my father.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Istood in the fully renovated living room of my childhood home.
I hadn’t seen these floors in so long that it felt foreign to me. For a month after my father’s death, I’d put off cleaning out this house because of the anxiety it brought me. I told my aunt I just wanted to have it demolished, but I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it. After a long, hard conversation with myself, I decided to clean it out and renovate it.
Much to my surprise, my father had a living will.
In it, left me the house, his pension, and his insurance money. The total came to about $800,000… a shock to me. He wanted to be cremated and have his ashes mixed in with my mother’s then spread out on the lake. His had been sitting in a box in my closet since after the funeral.
I wanted to wait until the renovations were complete before I did anything with them. Even though neither of them were physically here anymore, I wanted to show them their restored home. Almost every dime my father left me went into paying off his debt, the house, and the renovation. I had about fifty thousand dollars left of it and that went into my rainy day fund.
The cleaning company had worked tirelessly from the front to the back of the house, then the top to the bottom. There were so many things and when they asked me if I wanted to go through and keep anything, I told them to trash it all. The only things I kept were my mother’s ashes, her old recipe box, and his old photo album.
Today was the first day I’d been inside since the renovation was completed.
“How are you feeling?” Aunt Kira asked, as we looked around.
“Like we’ve come a long way.”
She nodded. “We did. I’m proud of you, Wynter. I know how hard coming back here was for you.”
She had no idea how hard it really was. When I came here for the funeral planning, I had a panic attack almost every day until I left. It took so much out of me to be back in this place. Thank God for Aunt Kira. She never left my side and neither had my cousin Tinka. They’d offered me comfort and wiped away so many of my tears during that time.
“I can’t believe I’m moving back here,” I said. “I said I’d never live in this house again and now look at me. Moving in next week.”
Aunt Kira touched my shoulder. “You’ll be fine. This place is nothing like you left it. You have the chance to make a beautiful home for yourself. Everything will be great.”
“I hope so.”
