*****
One Last Thing
Looking around her room once more before they left, Scout made an internal inventory of the things she needed to bring with her. Suitcase of clothes—check. Laundry basket with toiletries, towels, and flip-flops—check. Brand-new laptop—check. Messenger bag with wallet—check. It looked like she had everything. So why did it feel like something was missing? The excitement of her new adventure as a college student made her less grumpy about the evil hour. No one should ever be up at four am… unless they were still up from a night of partying or studying.
She turned around and was startled by her father, Joshua, standing in the doorway with a huge cup of coffee in his hands. The man liked his coffee, and if he was going to be driving halfway across the country today, he probably needed a whole pot.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you standing there. I was making sure I didn’t forget anything. I’ll just bring this out to the car, and we can go. I know you like to leave early so we miss all the commuter traffic. Wait, unless you want to finish your coffee? I can make breakfast. Then you can have coffee and food before we go. I’ll just bring these outside first. I could even get that coffee in a travel mug, so you can bring what you don’t finish. Oh, Mom will want her tea, so I can get that too. I think I want some tea, but maybe I’ll have coffee today, since it’s so dark and early. Yes, I think coffee it is.”
The bemused look on his face let her know that she had once again gone off into her nervous habit of spouting nonsense. “Are you done? Because I just stopped by to see if you wanted help carrying things to the car. A bit nervous, I take it.”
“That obvious? Of course it is… I either babble like a fool or mumble to myself when I am nervous. I could so never be a Texas Hold’em winner.”
“Everyone is nervous their first day away from home, whether it is college, military, or a first apartment. Just remember to always be yourself, and things will work out just fine.”
Always Be Yourself. She must have been better at fooling them than she thought. Scout had not been herself since she was eight. Okay, she was mostly herself on the outside, but she hid things from them, which had never made her one hundred percent at ease. Maybe she should tell them now. No, that wouldn’t work. The last thing they would’ve wanted was to drop off their “crazy” daughter at college right after hearing that. They would probably think they were just silly childhood memories of when her imagination was wild. Unless she told them about the boy in the coffee shop, and then it would be full-on crazy. No, best to keep her mouth shut just as she promised Grandma Nora.
Her dad put his coffee on the dresser and grabbed the overly heavy laundry basket. “I will just run this out and come back in for the suitcase.” He started to leave and turned around to look back at her, almost as if he were nervous about what was coming next.
“Ummm… so Mom told me you never finished reading your letter from Grandma Nora. I got the impression she was almost relieved by that, but I made your grandmother a promise. I know she was not my mom, but after living here so long and with my mom being gone, she sort of felt like mine. Anyway, I feel like I have to press this even though I know you probably stopped reading it for a reason. When the doctors told Grandma Nora her time was nearing, she gave me those letters to pass on to you and your mom when she was no longer with us. I promised to make sure you both read them. I guess this is my way of asking you to finish reading it.”
Scout knew her father had an unusually close relationship with her grandmother, his mother-in-law, so it did not surprise her that she had confided in him and asked him to make sure her wishes were followed through. It also did not surprise her that he had waited this long to mention it. That was just his way.
Pausing, he glanced at her. By the look on his face, he seemed to be able to tell that reading it was something that would not be easy for her. She thought her pain was clearly evident on her face for him to see. He added, “I guess we know where you get your babbling tendencies from, don’t we?”
“Both of you?” she tried to say in jest, but it had a sorrowful tone. Her dad winced as if her pain hurt him as well.
“Yes ma’am, you were doomed from the start. I’ll be right back for the suitcase.”
Left alone in her room with only her messenger bag left to bring to the car, Scout thought about what her dad had said. If her grandmother wanted, no needed, her to read it so badly that she asked her father to be her accomplice, it must be important. She could do this, and if she waited until she got to school, her roommate would probably walk in on her bawling and decide she was a “wicked” basket case. That was not the way to start what she hoped would be a great friendship.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the letter. It was a bit wrinkly and tear-smudged, so she smoothed it out. Thinking it might help her ease back into it, she began from the top. She was going to do this. She was going to read the whole letter before she left.