Page 65 of The Do-Over
For a while, he wandered aimlessly, not sure where he was going. There were familiar things in every direction. They walked past the house where Thea had lived with her family when she was young, but it was painfully obvious that someone else lived here now. There was a sign on the fence warning about a guard dog, and Rob knew that Thea’s mother was allergic to house pets. The window planters where the family had grown gardenias when they’d lived there were empty, and when Rob stood on his toes he could see cigarette butts in them.
“Mom and Dad moved across town after I went to college,” Thea explained. “They said there was no point in living right by the high school now that both of their kids had graduated.”
Rob nodded. It made sense, but it still jolted him to see this evidence of the passage of time.
They walked on. He wasn’t aware of steering them in any particular direction, but when they arrived at their next destination, he realized he must have been heading this way all along.
They were standing in front of his father’s house.
Unlike the other buildings in Deer Ridge, it seemed to have fallen into disrepair. It was clear that no one was looking after the place. He looked at Thea.
“It’s been empty since your father died,” she said. “Technically, I think you probably own it. Everyone expected it to go on the market, but you never sold it.”
Rob took a deep breath.
It was hard to believe that if he went through the front door, his father wouldn’t be there. The ghosts of his past were gone.
Maybe it would help to see for himself. Maybe that was why he had brought them here.
Thea seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “Do you want to go in?”
“Do you think it’s okay?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s your house. Besides, worst-case scenario, someone finds us and we get a slap on the wrist because you’re Local Hero Rob Honeycutt.”
He shook his head. That was still so strange to hear.
They walked up onto the porch, and Rob turned the doorknob. To his surprise, it opened easily.
“Unlocked,” he commented.
She shrugged.
They went inside. Rob could feel himself growing tense.
“Remembering anything?” Thea asked.
He ignored the question and walked into the kitchen.
It felt as if the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end the moment he walked in. It was as if someone was staring over his shoulder.
“Rob?” Her hand was on his back. “Hey, you’re breathing really fast.”
“I was standing right here,” he said. “I had the letter from Larrimore in my hand.”
“You remember being accepted?”
“He told me I wasn’t going. He said he would never pay for a fancy school like that.”
“Who, your father?”
Rob closed his eyes. “That was the only time I ever hit him back.”
Thea didn’t say a word, but Rob felt her hand flex on his back.
That’s the only time I’ve ever said it out loud,he thought.
And even without the benefit of a half a lifetime of memories, he knew that it was true.
