Or create a past…
“He needs you, Sara.”
And then, the question I’ve been dreading for weeks, sneaks out. “Will he remember me?”
***
My father sits at the end of a row of chairs, his forehead illuminated by a patch of light from a table lamp. His skin is an almond-gray, but I’m not sure if this is from poor lighting or poor nutrition. I will ask Mrs. Walker what he’s been eating. I’d say not enough food judging by the way his shirt sags around his neck and shoulders, but maybe this is what happens when you’re detoxed and alcohol-free.
He is watching Mayberry RFD, a show he always detested, saying Hollywood was crazy to let an illiterate like Andy Griffith bumble around on television. But here my father is, staring at the screen, eyes wide, lips curved into a faint twist. I move toward him, sucking in air and stale cigarettes. “Dad?” His gaze stays fixed on Barney Fife. “Dad?” He turns his head slowly. “It’s me, Sara.” Do you recognize me?
“Sara,” he says, as though he were saying ‘dog’ or ‘cat’.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner, I really wanted to be here for Christmas but with the snow and Ms. O’Grady’s car needing a new fuel pump, I couldn’t get here.” Silly, stupid words spilling out of my mouth but I can’t stop them. “Ms. O’Grady brought me today. She’s waiting downstairs in the lobby and she wanted me to tell you hello and she’d like to see you next time if you’re up to it. I’m hoping you will. She’s been great.” Shut up. Shut up. “I miss you, Dad.”
His silver eyes are on me, moving from my hair to my chin, to my hands, but he says nothing. I sit next to him, rest my fingers on his forearm. Do you know who I am? Ms. O’Grady has promised to bring me here once a week. She says it’s the least she can do and besides, we get to spend extra time together. She’s also going to help me research Penn State, which is only forty-five minutes north of here.
Graduation isn’t that far away, but U Penn and Temple are. How will I teach my father to re-learn his life if I’m not here? You can’t run away because your life isn’t what you think you want it to be. Ms. O’Grady has taught me this. I’m thinking about giving up journalism and studying creative writing in college. You can’t run away from things that make you vulnerable, because living makes you vulnerable. Ms. O’Grady has taught me this, too.
“Dad? I brought something for you.” I open my purse and carefully slide out the picture of us I found in the Chevy. “Here”—I point to each of us—“this is you, this is Mom, Kay, and me.” He lifts his hand and touches the picture, his big fingers moving over each face. He does this over and over, first Mom, then Kay, then me.
“Sara?” When he looks up, his eyes are wet.
He remembers me.
“I’m here, Dad. Right where I want to be.”
And for the first time in my life, this is true.
The End
Copyright 2012 by Mary Campisi
PRETENDING NORMAL is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and situations are all products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to real persons, locales, or events, are purely coincidental.
About the Author
Mary Campisi should have known she’d become a writer when at age thirteen she began changing the ending to all the books she read. It took several years and a number of jobs, including registered nurse, receptionist in a swanky hair salon, accounts payable clerk, and practice manager in an OB/GYN office, for her to rediscover writing. Enter a mouse-less computer, a floppy disk, and a dream large enough to fill a zip drive. The rest of the story lives on in every book she writes.
When she’s not working on her craft or following the lives of five young adult children, Mary’s digging in the dirt with her flowers and herbs, cooking, reading, walking her rescue lab mix, Cooper, or on the perfect day, riding off into the sunset with her very own ‘hero’ husband on his Ultra Limited aka Harley.
Mary has published with Kensington, Carina Press, The Wild Rose Press, and Jocelyn Hollow Romance.
website: www.marycampisi.com
e-mail: mary@marycampisi.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/MaryCampisi
blog: http://www.marycampisi.com/blog/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/marycampisibooks
Other Books by Mary Campisi:
At Amazon:
Contemporary Romance
A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One)- link
A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two) Coming late 2013
Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) - link
The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) - link
Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) - link
Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) - link
Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) - link
Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book One) - link
Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) - link
Begin Again: Short stories from the heart - link
The Sweetest Deal - link
Regency Historical
The Redemption of Madeline Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) - link
The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) - link
A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014
A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014
Innocent Betrayal - link
Young Adult
Pretending Normal - link
At Barnes and Noble:
Contemporary Romance
A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One)- link
A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two) Coming late 2013
Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) - link
The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) - link
Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) - link
Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) - link
Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) - link
Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) - link
Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) - link
What’s Left of Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) - link
Begin Again: Short stories from the heart - link
The Sweetest Deal - link
Regency Historical
The Redemption of Madeline Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) - link
The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) - link
A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014
A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014
Innocent Betrayal link
Young Adult
Pretending Normal - link
At iTunes:
Contemporary Romance
A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One)- link
A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two) Coming late 2013
Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) - link
The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) - link
Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) - link
Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) – link
Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) - link
Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) - link
What’s Left of Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) - link
Begin Again: Short stories from the heart - link
The Sweetest Deal - link
Regency Historical
The Redemption of Madeline Munrove (The Mod
el Wife Series-Book One) - link
The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) - link
A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014
A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014
Innocent Betrayal link
Young Adult
Pretending Normal - link
At Kobo:
Contemporary Romance
A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One)- link
A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two) Coming late 2013
Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) - link
The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) - link
Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) – link
Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) - link
Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) - link
Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) - link
Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) - link
What’s Left of Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) - link
Begin Again: Short stories from the heart - link
The Sweetest Deal - link
Regency Historical
The Redemption of Madeline Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) - link
The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) - link
A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014
A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014
Innocent Betrayal link
Young Adult
Pretending Normal - link
Table of Contents
Foreword
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Copyright
About the Author
Other Books by the author