“Yes, but why did this have to happen to me? To our family?” I asked him, in search of answers.
Daddy didn’t respond, but a troubled expression came across his face.
“Sorry,” I said. “I can’t expect you to know the reasoning behind all of this any more than me. I just don’t understand.”
“That’s what the doctor is for, right?” Daddy asked. He grinned, I’m sure to try to reassure me. “I haven’t met this Dr. Spencer yet but she sounds like a good person.”
“She is a great person.”
“Then let’s just wait and see what happens. We’ll take this one day at a time.”
“That’s the only way to take life,” I agreed.
The waitress returned with our food and it hit the spot. We had about four hours before we were due to meet Momma at the park so I took Daddy sightseeing. Even though Atlanta was only four hours from him, he’d never actually seen the city. He’d only bypassed it on the highway going from Florida to North Carolina.
• • •
We got to the park at two o’clock on the dot. I spotted Momma’s car in the parking lot.
“She’s already here,” I told Daddy.
He searched the immediate area for her. “Where? I don’t see her.”
“I don’t see her. I just see her car.” I parked next to Momma’s Buick and cut off my ignition.
“I was about to say,” he said, “I know it’s been years but I would hope that I could still recognize Meredith.”
“Oh, you’ll recognize her.” I giggled. “Momma hasn’t really changed a bit. She’s just as glamorous as ever. Never a hair out of place.”
“Even though Meredith was always a bit too materialistic for me, I have to give it to her. She always, always looked good. There was never a day that I wasn’t proud to have her on my arm.”
“Aw, Daddy, are you saying that Momma was your showpiece?”
He blushed. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say all that, but I’d rather have a pretty woman on my arm than an ugly one any day.”
“I bet Flower’s mother is pretty,” I said. “You can tell that by looking at her daughter.”
Daddy shrugged as he undid his seat belt. “Allison looks okay. She’s not Meredith, though. My one and only true love.”
I glanced over at Daddy and prayed he didn’t have hopes of actually getting back together with Momma. Forgiveness was one thing; falling back into the groove like nothing ever happened was something totally different.
I took my seat belt off and got out of the car, meeting Daddy in the back by the trunk. I unlocked it and took out the picnic basket and blanket. Daddy took the basket from me and we headed down a path toward the shelter area where Momma was supposed to meet us. When we got within seventy yards of it, we saw her sitting on the top of one of the four wooden picnic tables. She had on a casual velvet pantsuit and her hair was pinned up.
I yelled out, “Momma! We’re here!”
She didn’t turn around at first. She seemed hesitant, like she was almost scared to face Daddy. I could hear him let out a heavy sigh from beside of me and then he became so quiet that I wasn’t even sure he was breathing.
Then he whispered, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. You think we could arrange for us to go to separate therapy sessions? I’m not backing out of helping you, believe me, but I’m getting a bad feeling here.”
I reached over and touched him on the arm. He was trembling. “It’s okay, Daddy. Part of living life is facing our fears. Marcella taught me that.”
He put his hand on top of mine. “I guess you’re right. Let’s go ahead and get this over with, then.”
As we approached Momma, she still didn’t turn around.
Daddy stopped dead in his tracks. “Listen, do me a favor. Go feel out the situation for me.”
“Feel out the situation?”