Not Every Home Is Meant to Be Returned To novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: What He Said Out Loud

My father came to the back door of the diner on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of June.

I was standing at the dish sink with my sleeves pushed up and soap to my elbows.

Kenzie's mom had her head in the walk-in cooler. Kenzie was out front, pouring coffee.

"Hazel," said a voice behind me.

He stood in the doorway in a red hardware store vest with his name stitched on it. He held an envelope in both hands.

He had taken a second job stocking shelves, and he had sold the SUV, and for two weeks he had been riding an old bicycle everywhere.

"You can't be back here, Dad," I said. "Health code."

"I'll stay in the doorway. I'm on my break. It's fifteen minutes."

I dried my hands on my apron and waited.

"I got the check for the SUV," he said. "Nine thousand, one hundred. The lawyer said to give it to you directly, not him."

He held out the envelope. I took it.

"Thank you."

"That's not what I came to say." He cleared his throat. "I've been trying to figure out how to say it right. I made notes on the back of a receipt. Then I thought, no. I should say it straight."

"All right."

He took a breath and looked at the floor, then made himself look at my face.

"When my mother died, I let your mother decide how this house would run. The first year, she put you in the room by the front door and told me it was so you'd be near the exit if you got homesick."

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