Read Online The Death of Me by Yolanda Olson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Yolanda Olson
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bottom, I stepped off and took a deep breath. I glanced around the large airport lobby to see if anyone around me resembled Zaydee. I didn't have to look for long though, because a tall, middle-aged man with a thick black mustache with a tiny woman by his side walked over to me and held his hand out.
"You're Garrett, aren't you?" he asked, with a kind smile.
"Bill?" I asked, shaking his hand firmly.
"Oh my God. He looked just like him," the woman who I assumed to be Rose, said quietly, nudging Bill.
"This is Rose, my wife," he said, confirming my thoughts and nodding at her. I smiled as she stepped forward and gave me a friendly hug, which I returned.
"Come on, our car is in the parking garage. Did you have a good flight?" Bill asked, leading the way down the large hallway.
I confirmed that I did and we made small talk all the way to his car. I kept a smile on my face and interest in my eyes, but I was honestly disappointed that they hadn't brought Scott with them. I kind of wanted to have one of those airport scenes that you see in the movies; the kind when you see someone you love and you run and embrace each other, while everyone around you starts to cheer.
Once in the parking lot, we took the elevator to the third floor in silence. I leaned against the back wall and stared up at the numbers as they ticked by, Bill cleared his throat a couple of times, and I felt Rose's eyes on me when she stole the occasional glance.
"Over here," Bill said once we were on the third floor of the parking garage. I followed as he and Rose led the way to an old beige colored Volvo with a couple of dents in the side. He used a remote control attached to his key chain to unlock all of the doors and I slid into the backseat.
"Is your home very far from here?" I asked.
Bill shook his head slightly, "About half an hour, depending on traffic."
"Oh; and um Scott? Is he there?" I asked nervously.
Rose put a hand on Bill's arm before she turned and looked at me with an emotion I couldn't quite read. She realized I couldn't understand what her face was trying to tell me, so she nodded before turning back around in her seat again. I decided it was better not to ask any more questions about him, so Bill and I bantered a bit about what there was to do in Phoenix, our favorite sports teams, and how long I had been in the education profession.
Thirty painful minutes later he was pulling into the driveway of a split level home with a tire swing hanging from a tree in the front. I was starting to believe that was a family trait and wondered if Zaydee would have insisted on one, had we had the chance to keep him.
Probably, I thought with a smile.
Bill and Rose quietly got out of their respective sides of the car with me following close behind them. I walked up the splintered wooden steps behind them and waited while Bill unlocked the front door and stepped back to let Rose in. I waited until he went in, then followed closing the door behind me. My hands were starting to sweat and my legs were a bit shaky; I was honest to God terrified of meeting my son. What if I wasn't what he expected? What if he hated me for being absent for the first fourteen years of his life? What if he wanted Zaydee instead of me?
Maybe I should have waited until she was willing to come, I thought nervously as they led me into a den.
"I thought you'd like to look around in here first," Bill said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "This is where we keep most of the family pictures and he's in almost all of them."
I cleared my throat and nervously started looking at the pictures. They seemed to be in chronological order, from when he was a small baby up until what age he would be now; around fourteen. I understood the haunted look on Rose's face when I first met them in the airport lobby. Looking at Scott really was like looking at a younger version of myself. The only traces of Zaydee I could see, was the progressive sadness in his eyes the older he grew.
The sudden
"You're Garrett, aren't you?" he asked, with a kind smile.
"Bill?" I asked, shaking his hand firmly.
"Oh my God. He looked just like him," the woman who I assumed to be Rose, said quietly, nudging Bill.
"This is Rose, my wife," he said, confirming my thoughts and nodding at her. I smiled as she stepped forward and gave me a friendly hug, which I returned.
"Come on, our car is in the parking garage. Did you have a good flight?" Bill asked, leading the way down the large hallway.
I confirmed that I did and we made small talk all the way to his car. I kept a smile on my face and interest in my eyes, but I was honestly disappointed that they hadn't brought Scott with them. I kind of wanted to have one of those airport scenes that you see in the movies; the kind when you see someone you love and you run and embrace each other, while everyone around you starts to cheer.
Once in the parking lot, we took the elevator to the third floor in silence. I leaned against the back wall and stared up at the numbers as they ticked by, Bill cleared his throat a couple of times, and I felt Rose's eyes on me when she stole the occasional glance.
"Over here," Bill said once we were on the third floor of the parking garage. I followed as he and Rose led the way to an old beige colored Volvo with a couple of dents in the side. He used a remote control attached to his key chain to unlock all of the doors and I slid into the backseat.
"Is your home very far from here?" I asked.
Bill shook his head slightly, "About half an hour, depending on traffic."
"Oh; and um Scott? Is he there?" I asked nervously.
Rose put a hand on Bill's arm before she turned and looked at me with an emotion I couldn't quite read. She realized I couldn't understand what her face was trying to tell me, so she nodded before turning back around in her seat again. I decided it was better not to ask any more questions about him, so Bill and I bantered a bit about what there was to do in Phoenix, our favorite sports teams, and how long I had been in the education profession.
Thirty painful minutes later he was pulling into the driveway of a split level home with a tire swing hanging from a tree in the front. I was starting to believe that was a family trait and wondered if Zaydee would have insisted on one, had we had the chance to keep him.
Probably, I thought with a smile.
Bill and Rose quietly got out of their respective sides of the car with me following close behind them. I walked up the splintered wooden steps behind them and waited while Bill unlocked the front door and stepped back to let Rose in. I waited until he went in, then followed closing the door behind me. My hands were starting to sweat and my legs were a bit shaky; I was honest to God terrified of meeting my son. What if I wasn't what he expected? What if he hated me for being absent for the first fourteen years of his life? What if he wanted Zaydee instead of me?
Maybe I should have waited until she was willing to come, I thought nervously as they led me into a den.
"I thought you'd like to look around in here first," Bill said, sliding his hands into his pockets. "This is where we keep most of the family pictures and he's in almost all of them."
I cleared my throat and nervously started looking at the pictures. They seemed to be in chronological order, from when he was a small baby up until what age he would be now; around fourteen. I understood the haunted look on Rose's face when I first met them in the airport lobby. Looking at Scott really was like looking at a younger version of myself. The only traces of Zaydee I could see, was the progressive sadness in his eyes the older he grew.
The sudden
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