Chapter 5: The Kitchen

My father was sitting at the head of the kitchen table when I came in, and he didn't stand up.

He had a legal pad in front of him and a mug of coffee gone cold.

My mother was at the stove with her back to me, stirring a pot that didn't need stirring.

Tony came in behind me, and I realized the SUV must have caught up.

Dani was in the chair beside my father, wrapped in a gray blanket.

Her eyes were already red.

On her right hand, the gold ring that used to be my grandmother's caught the light.

"Sit," my father said.

I stayed standing.

"Dani told me about the email," he said. "Scotland. A whole year, and not a word to your own family."

"I was going to tell you."

"When? From the airport?"

"I accepted it on Wednesday. I needed to know I'd made up my mind first."

Dani drew the blanket closer.

"I'm not angry, Uncle," she said softly. "I just feel so sad. I thought we were close."

My mother set down her spoon. "Bee, your cousin has been through so much this week."

"I stood in a line for her for three hours."

"And you couldn't have said you were leaving first?" my mother said. "You see how that looks?"

I looked at the four of them around the table.

"The deposit is $9,000, and it's due December 15," I said. "I have a little over two thousand. I want Nonna's money."

Nobody said anything.

Then my father laid his hand flat on the legal pad and turned it around.

It was a list in his square engineer's handwriting.

Cypress Lake Wellness Program, year one. Year two. Year three. Year four. Year five.