“For years, I hated this road,” she said.
I looked at her.
“I thought a piece of your father was lost out here. I imagined that watch lying somewhere beneath the leaves.”
She paused.
“But it wasn’t lost.”
She glanced toward the darkening fields.
“It was with Maya. In Georgia. In bus stations. In nursing homes. Everywhere she went.”
Her eyes glistened.
“He kept doing good things, even after he was gone.”
She rolled up
the window.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”
I didn’t immediately tell everyone at work what had happened.
The story felt too personal.
Too precious.
But Millbrook is a small town.
And Lori isn’t called the unofficial newspaper for nothing.
Within a week, people began hearing about Maya, the twins, and my father’s watch.
Then something wonderful happened.
Pastor Greene delivered two gently used cribs.
Patty from the diner began dropping off dinner every Tuesday, claiming she’d accidentally made too much food.
The director at Willow Creek Nursing Home arranged for Maya to receive an advance on her first paycheck.
A ninety-one-year-old resident knitted two tiny sweaters for Noah and Eli.
One blue.
One green.
But one of the moments I remember most happened the following Friday.
Dale Pruitt returned to my register.
He bought bread and peanut butter.
After paying, he remained standing there.
“That woman,” he began. “The
one with the twins.”
“Maya?”
“Yeah. Maya.”
He shifted uncomfortably.
“I heard what happened with the watch. About your father.”
I nodded.
Dale glanced at the photograph beside my scanner.
“I knew your dad when I was little.”
“You did?”
“He used to bring that blue truck to my father’s garage. Once, he paid me a whole dollar to clean his windshield.”
Dale smiled faintly.
“I thought I was rich.”
Then his expression became serious.
“I behaved badly that night.”
I shook my head.
“Dale, it’s all right.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
He looked toward the floor.
“I’d just learned I had to let two employees go. Business hasn’t been good. I was upset about it.”
He swallowed.
“And there I was, complaining about waiting in line while that poor girl was trying to buy diapers for her babies.”
He reached into his jacket.
Pulled out an envelope.
And placed it
on the counter.
“Could you give this to her?”
“What is it?”
“Just something I should’ve done that night.”
