“Good morning, Evelyn. Are you texting your mom? Where is she? I didn’t see her this morning.”
“She went to work. She said she’s on a business trip and won’t be back for a few days.”
Dad smiled, then pushed up his glasses, exposing Mom’s lie without hesitation.
“A nurse going on a business trip?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “She’s just a nurse.”
“Of course she has to!” I quickly explained. “Mom’s about to run for head nurse. She had to go to the provincial competition. Of course it’s a business trip! Dad, you don’t know how hard she’s worked these past four years. She had to juggle her job and take care of me.”
Then I seized the chance to ask him, “Dad, what about you? Where have you been these past four years? Why didn’t you call me even once?”
He paused.
The look in his eyes behind the glasses suddenly turned sharp and cold, but the smile on his face didn’t change.
He started talking about what happened in Pinehill, the dangers he encountered and the vastness he saw.
He spoke in great detail, as if he really had spent four years there.
He even seemed to remember everything, about Mom, about me.