Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
O n the following Saturday, Ryan and Jason, along with Conner, went to Spokane to help Linda and Tiffany move. Conner insisted on going along with them to help and explained the night before how he had been doing pushups every day that summer so he had the muscles. To both Jason and Ryan’s surprise, Conner was quite the little joke teller on the way back from Spokane in the moving truck.
“Why don’t old people ever get lost?” Conner lifted his eyebrows as he looked at Jason, then over at Ryan in the cab.
“Why?” Ryan asked.
“Because they’ve all been around the block!” He slapped his leg and laughed at his own joke.
Jason and Ryan both began to laugh.
“I know. Good stuff, right?” Conner smirked as he folded his hands and smiled from ear to ear.
“Great joke, bud.” Ryan smoothed a hand over his son’s head. “We’re almost to Cedarwood Creek, and your uncle and I need your help carrying those boxes. Don’t leave and go play games with your brother.”
Deflated, Conner said with a somber tone, “Okay . . .”
As they pulled up to the apartment complex, they were dumbfounded by the number of cars in the parking lot.
“What on earth is going on?” Ryan leaned over the steering wheel as he surveyed the parking lot at the four-plex. “When we stopped by to get the keys for her this morning, it was practically empty.”
Rounding the corner, they saw most of the town standing near the entrance to Linda’s new apartment and a big spot to park the truck. Ryan’s heart stirred with warmth and love at seeing them all clapping and cheering upon their arrival.
“Is that for Linda?” Jason shook his head slowly, surprised as well at the sight they were beholding. “It can’t be.”
Backing the moving truck into the spot in front of the apartment, they all three climbed out of the cab.
Bill was right outside his driver-side door to greet him. “Hey, Ryan. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited a few people to help unload.”
“The town?” Ryan laughed.
“They all wanted to help once they heard what was going on.”
Ryan knew in his heart right then that everything was going to be okay with Linda moving to town. Seeing the frightful Linda and her daughter Tiffany standing a ways off near her car, he called for them and motioned them over.
She didn’t move an inch.
He came over to Linda and Tiffany.
“What are all these people doing here?” she inquired of Ryan, a worried look in her eyes.
“It’s your welcoming party. They’re here for you.”
Covering her mouth, she began to cry. “What? Are you serious?”
“I know. God is good, isn’t He?”
Walking with her over to the back of the moving truck, Ryan began to introduce her to everyone.
As they finished unloading the truck a while later, Ryan walked a box marked Tiffany into the apartment and asked Linda where her daughter’s room was located. Walking in, she saw Elizabeth and Tiffany chatting as they sat on Tiffany’s bed. It was already made, and most of the walls were covered in posters and various pictures.
“Wow.” Ryan surveyed the room. “You unpack quickly.”
“Yep. You learn how when you move a lot.” Tiffany slipped off her bed and went over to her dresser. Lifting an old gold watch, she walked it over to him. “Here. This was our dad’s watch. I figured you’d like to have it.”
He smiled. “Thank you. But how’d you get this?”
“I don’t know. I’ve had it for a long time.”
Catching up with Jason outside, he handed him the watch.
“Where’d you find it?”
He shook his head, his eyes glued on Linda talking to Emily a few paces away. “I didn’t. Tiffany had it the whole time.”
“What? Really?” He shook his head as he inspected it. “This is really it. Wow.”
“It sure is. It was never lost, just took the long way getting to its rightful owner.”
That evening, Ryan took Emily to Spokane for a date at the Clinkerdagger. After their meal, they walked Riverfront park and then drove back home. Pulling into the driveway at ten o’clock, he put the car into park and was about to get out, but Emily touched his arm.
“Can we go for one more walk?”
“Of course.”
They got out of the car and began to walk down the sidewalk, hand in hand, Emily leading the way.
As they rounded the corner of A street and headed for 14th, she finally started to speak.
“This year has been crazy. You know?”
“Tell me about it . . .”
“When Frank passed away, I wondered how I could ever help you get through it all. The pain, the grief, the everything. And the more I tried to help, the more it felt like you were getting further away from me. It was really hard.”
Lowering his gaze as they continued walking, he shook his head. “I’m sorry I did that to you.”
“Don’t be sorry, Ryan. I couldn’t help your grief. I couldn’t help your pain. I’m your helpmate, but not your God.”
As they arrived to 14th street, the corner of the Cedarwood Creek Grill lit up in their view, just over the evergreens.
“What are we doing?”
She smiled at him and grabbed his hand a little tighter. “Come on.”
They cut through the trees, taking the shortcut that led into the alley behind the grill. Finally stopping at the beaten up metal door, she turned to him.
“It’s been a wild ride since losing Frank, but I think things are turning out okay. Don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a sticker and handed it to him. “Will you put it on?”
“Yes.”
As he peeled the sticker, she kept talking. “For so long, I waited for you to figure things out and go back to the man I married, but you never did. Sure, there was a part of you that never changed, but overall, you did change, Ryan. And I know now you will never be the same, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s a good thing.”
Smoothing his hand over the sticker on the door, he stepped back and read it. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psalm 119:67
Pulling his wife in close, he gave her a hug and spoke from the heart. “Losing my father changed me in a lot of ways. Before losing him, my soul did not know the sorrow of death, the taste of true pain from a person’s absence in life. Yet my soul also did not know the joy and the comfort of a mighty and living God who loves and cares deeply for His children. While I do miss my father and our talks, I know I will see him again. And as for my life now, I know God uses everything to work His will and for His glory. Now I can live in light of eternity, enjoying the present, enjoying the sweet moments with loved ones, because time is fading, and life is beautiful when it’s spent walking with our Creator in heart and in deed.”
The End.