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Icould have driven myself to the airport in Fresno, and had fully intended to, but Tuck wouldn’t hear of it.
“I need to get down there anyway,” he said. “Get some variety in my shopping possibilities.”
“From what I’ve seen you don’t cook anyway, so what are you looking for that you can’t get in Kings Grove?”
“Exactly,” Tuck said. “It’s a tradition, anyway.”
“What is?”
“You don’t drive yourself to the airport. Bad luck.”
“I’ve never heard of this…” I thought back over my recent travels—I’d always gotten a ride to the airport in New York. “What difference does it make?”
“You need someone to see you off, it’s good luck.”
I laughed. “Okay. Well, thanks.”
I did appreciate the ride. It gave me time to check in with my dad, who I’d seen just a couple times in the last month. He’d stopped pushing, and I was finding that if he was demanding my time, then I was more willing to give it.
“Hey Dad,” I said, when he picked up the phone.
“Hi Harper. How are you doing?”
“Fine. Hey, listen. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to be out of town for a couple days. I need to go to Austin and chat with Theo about the business, see the office, get a sense of how we’re going to approach things.”
“Okay,” he said. “That sounds good. Is he still being flexible with you? With your six months?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “He was a little evasive on the phone the last time I spoke with him, which is part of why I’m going in person. He’d been pushing for me to come earlier, remember?”
“Right.”
“But I haven’t heard much in a while.”
“Worth checking in, then, I guess.”
“Yeah.” I watched the hills and trees fly by the car windows as I spoke, mountain green slowly turning to valley brown.
“Call me when you get back,” he said. “I’d love to have you over for dinner finally.”
I’d been dodging that invitation, though Dad had been to dinner at the house with me and Tuck once. “Okay,” I said, still not sure I wanted to spend time in the house where I’d grown up. I worried memories might wait for me there, lurking around corners like abandoned playthings.
“I talked to Annie Gish,” he added. “She’d like to come whenever you do—catch up.”
I smiled. “Yeah,” I said. “I’d really like that. We’ve been trying to connect, but we’ve both been so busy with work.” We’d had to cancel every set of plans we’d made so far.
“We’ll try to do it when you get back.”
“Okay. Thanks, Dad.” After he said goodbye I hung up. We still hadn’t gotten to the heart of the trouble between us, and I still didn’t have a good idea what had made him stay away all those years. But I had begun to sense that my Dad wasn’t a bad man, that he wasn’t malicious, and that whatever had kept him away really must have been more complicated than simply deciding he didn’t care for me anymore.
Tuck was quiet while I talked, focused on the road. He was a good driver, taking the daunting curves confidently and easing into the brake instead of slamming it like a lot of people did on unfamiliar curves.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome.” He was quiet for a while, and then he lowered his voice and asked, “Have you made much progress with my boy Cam?”
I laughed. “Cam is potentially the most frustrating person I’ve ever met.”
“Yeah, but you like him,” Tuck said, pointing out what was clearly obvious to anyone who saw me near him.
