Josh decided to visit Cindy the following weekend.
He told me about it over breakfast.
He wanted to go alone first.
I understood.
He needed to speak with his mother without worrying about how I might react.
I didn't argue.
He left late Saturday morning.
I spent the afternoon doing laundry and preparing a few things for the coming week.
I tried not to think too much about the visit.
But I checked my phone more than once.
Josh eventually sent a message saying he was staying a little longer.
I replied that there was no rush.
When he returned, he looked tired.
He put his keys on the counter and sat down.
I asked how it went.
He rubbed his hands together.
"Better than I expected."
I waited.
He explained that Cindy had made coffee.
They had talked about ordinary things first.
Work.
The house.
Some relatives.
Then she brought up the reunion.
She had asked whether he was still upset.
He told her he was.
She asked how long he intended to remain upset.
Josh told her it wasn't about how many days had passed.
It was about what happened.
He said she had pushed a sixty-eight-year-old man into a pond.
She had watched him struggle.
And when he lost his hearing aids, she had acted as if he were being unreasonable.
Cindy had listened.
At least, according to Josh.
He told her that he wasn't asking her to buy another pair.
He wasn't asking her to pay back the money.
He wanted her to recognize that Dad deserved an apology.
I asked what she said.
Josh looked down.
"She said she didn't realize how serious it was."
I leaned forward.
"And then?"
He shrugged.
"She said she was sorry things had turned out that way."
I understood why he looked disappointed.
That wasn't quite the same as apologizing for what she had done.
But it was something.
Josh said he had told her that Dad was doing well.
He explained that the new hearing aids were working.
He told her about the mockingbird in Springfield.
For a moment, Cindy had seemed interested.
She asked whether Dad could hear properly again.
Josh said yes.
Then she asked whether we had any money left from the birthday savings.
He told her there wasn't enough for the original cruise.
She had sighed.
That part didn't surprise me.
Josh sat quietly after telling me everything.
I asked whether he felt better.
He thought about it.
"A little."
I nodded.
He said he didn't want to keep fighting with his mother.
But he also didn't want to forget what happened.
I told him he didn't have to choose between those things.
He could love his mother and still expect her to take responsibility.
He looked at me.
"That's what I told her."
We sat together for a while.
Later that evening, Dad called.
He wanted to know whether Josh had visited Cindy.
I told him he had.
Dad asked if things were improving.
I said they might be.
He sounded relieved.
Then he told me he had been invited to a small lunch with two former coworkers.
They wanted to catch up.
I told him that sounded nice.
He said he was looking forward to it.
After we finished talking, I realized something.
Dad was making plans again.
He wasn't waiting for someone to speak slowly.
He wasn't avoiding conversations.
He wasn't staying home because he was afraid he wouldn't understand.
He was going out.
Living.
That was what the new hearing aids had given him.
Not just sound.
Confidence.
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: The Next Family Gathering Was Approaching, and I Had One Condition Before I Agreed to Bring My Father Back to the Farm
The Afternoon Everyone Watched My Father Fall Into the Water, and Nobody Knew What to Say
Part 18 of 20
