Page 77 of A Future To Remember

He didn’t finish the thought. Instead, his eyes welled with tears, and he moved his gaze from me to the church store’s inventory, like he’d be able to spot other things that had once belonged to him.

I understood in that moment that he was feeling the full impact of his parents’ rejection. His father hadn’t simply kicked him out of the family home; he’d gotten rid of his son’s things too. It was so cruel, and it hurt my heart to watch his posture deflate. He’d had a bounce in his step before I’d brought him here.

“Dammit,” I whispered. But then something ignited deep in my chest. It was the oddest thing too because it felt like it was coming from a source that wasn’t me. It felt like I was adopting the attitude of someone who’d once shown me a bit of tough love, and a wisdom that’d pulled me out of a funk.

“You’re right, Levi. It’s yours. And the church has been kind enough to store it for you for the bargain-basement price of only twenty-five dollars while you figured out your life and found a place where you could bring the weight set home.” Reaching down, I picked up one of the dumbbells and realized it was the one labeled thirty-five pounds. The weight tilted me sideways, but I managed to hold on. “Now, are you gonna stand there until closing time? Or are you gonna help me haul this stuff to the loft?”

Levi blinked and his eyes stopped welling. He eyed me with surprise, then, to my relief, he adopted the tiniest smile. “You’d better let me carry that. You’ll wreck your back.”

“I’m fine.” To show him I wasn’t a weakling, I waddled it over to the counter, set it down, then hurried back to get its twin. After managing to get both across the shop, I pulled out my wad of cash, counted off twenty-five one-dollar bills, and was about to slap them down on the counter when a white envelope slid onto the surface just beside me.

I glanced over and Levi stood next to me, the envelope with his week’s pay on the counter. “I’ll take the weight set,” he said to the clerk. “Plus, these jeans, shirts, and this coat.” He plunked a pile of clothes on the counter, including a man’s sheepskin coat, and I stared at the coat itself, somewhat stunned, for a full minute.

My first thought was that I’d been in this resale shop almost every day for a week and hadn’t spotted the thing, which I would’ve snapped up in a heartbeat, and my second thought was that a memory was floating up to my conscious mind. I suddenly vividly remembered opening a big box and seeing a gorgeous new sheepskin coat wrapped in a blue bow.

And I remembered the feelings I’d felt seeing that coat. I’d felt surprised. I’d felt delighted. And I’d felt loved.

“Maddy?” Levi questioned close to my ear. His hand then settled onto my arm. “Hey, you mad?”

I heard him, but I continued to stare at the counter, willing the memory to expand. Who had given me the coat? Where had they given it to me? It’d obviously been a gift, and if it’d been a gift, then where was it now?

“Maddy,” Levi said again, this time a bit louder.

I dragged my gaze from the coat he’d just purchased up to his face, my eyes welling with tears, overcome by the weight of knowing I’d been loved enough to receive gorgeous presents but not able to remember who I’d been loved by.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Levi said, completely misinterpreting the moment. “I just wanted to pay for my own stuff. You shouldn’t have to fork over a single cent on my account.”

“It’s fine,” I croaked out. I couldn’t explain it to him. I just needed to wait for the flood of overwhelming feelings to settle down. “I’m sorry,” I added. He truly thought I was upset with him.

Closing my eyes, I tried to gather myself. After a deep breath in and a slow one out, I opened my eyes again and managed a smile. “I’m not upset with you, Levi. I was only offering a gesture, but if you’d rather pay for the weight set and the clothes, then that’s cool. Let’s get started trucking all this back home.”

It took more time than it should’ve to cart all the heavy weights and equipment back to Wanda’s Diner. The elderly clerk was irritated that we’d shown up so close to closing time, so she made us trek all of the equipment out into the church’s parking lot first, then we had to hustle it one load at a time back and forth between the lot and Wanda’s until we got it all moved over.

Levi had come up with the brilliant idea of using the busing cart, which made it a much easier endeavor, but by the time we were done, we were both wiped out.

For the next few hours, Levi and I mostly recovered from the long day. Almost as an afterthought, I’d finally plunked down the money for the small TV I’d had my eye on, and Levi was able to get three local channels on it, which were playing reruns of shows from the ’70s and ’80s, so we mostly stared at the TV until it was time for dinner.

Around six p.m., we trekked down the stairs around the corner into the walk-in, and I heated up the lasagna in the microwave while Levi got us drinks, cutlery, and napkins, and hauled it all upstairs, where I joined him once our dinners were hot.

We grabbed the four milk crates we’d snagged from the alley out back, using them as makeshift tray tables, and ate mostly in silence, but then Levi said, “I’m sorry for insulting you, Maddy.”

I eyed him curiously for a moment before I understood what he was referring to. “You didn’t, Levi. The reason I suddenly went quiet on you back at the church was because I got one of my memories back.”

“You did? That’s huge! What’d you remember?”

I pointed to the top of the pile of clothes where he’d tossed his new sheepskin coat. “Someone gave me one of those. It was a present. And I remember feeling that whoever gave it to me really loved me.”

Levi looked to where I was pointing. “Oh, wow. Do you remember who? Their name?”

I shook my head. “I remember only the coat. It came in this big silver box and was wrapped in a blue bow. I don’t know what happened to the coat, but I wish I still had it.”

Levi’s face looked almost pained. He knew how difficult it was for me to have to fight off the terrifying memories and recover something good. He pointed to the coat he’d purchased that day. “That was a present from my mom.”

My brow furrowed. “A present from your mom? What do you mean?”

He cut off a bite of lasagna and loaded it onto his fork, ready to scarf it down, but only after he explained, “The clothes and the coat and the weight set. All of that was mine. When my dad kicked me out, he let me leave with only the clothes on my back and the money in my pocket. I guess they decided to get rid of all the rest and donate it to the church.”

I put a hand to my heart, feeling the sting of fresh tears. This poor, lovely boy had been so mistreated. It killed me. I hated his parents. I hated them for their ignorance and their cruelty.