8:30

He’s so tired she thought, it’s been a long day. A long week really. I’m glad he decided to stay.

Rowan grabbed the shabby and worn blanket from the back of the couch and gentle spread it over the sleeping Gareth. She fingered the worn softness of her favourite blanket as she tucked it under his shoulders. It made her happy that the old thing was still of use; she’d had the blanket since she was a kid and rescued it more than once from her mother’s attempts to discard it as worn out and useless.

And now she’d collected yet another moment wrapped in it’s threadbare weave. Rowan shook her head softly at the memory of the last teenage battle over the fate of her beloved blanket. She had started out calm and mature,stating that she had sentimental attachments and fond memories associated with the shabby bedspread. When that failed she’d moved on to the tried and true petulant and whiney until her mother had thrown her hands up in disgust and stomped off.

Really, we teach our children the entirely wrong things she mused.

And now two of her favourite things were here on her couch. Tomorrow would be soon enough to explore the mysteries of Gareth’s packet. Tonight he could rest safely swaddled in her blanket and she could quietly sit here and enjoy.

6:23

Gareth swallowed the last of gulp of cold beer and set his glass down on the table.

“It was really, really odd. I signed a bunch of papers. I have no idea what they were, but I have them here somewhere.”

He dug out a crumpled, rolled-up tube of legal-size sheets covered with tiny type, and tried to flatten them out on the table.”I thought about trying to read them over, but after skimming the first page I figured it was a fool’s bet anyway. And the old guy was looking a bit impatient. Oddly enough my dad seemed to be OK with the whole thing by that point. I guess he’d resigned himself or something. So I skipped to the part marked with those little stickies and initialed like a mad fool. On the last page I signed by the x. But it had already been signed, a long time ago…”

 

6:21

“So you know that scene at Gringotts or whatever in Harry Potter? Well, this lawyer’s office was weird and creepy like that. I felt like I was entering some sort of secret Masonic lodge or something. Everything just felt … well … off. Like they weren’t used to outsiders.”

“Freaky. So after your father, sorry, step-father …”

“Father. Father’s fine. He’s always been my old man, always will be. This other guy’s just a name and a picture to me.”

“Sure. Father. So after he showed, what then?”

“Well, they showed us into this big office, all wood and leather and old stuff, like something out of a movie. There’s this old guy behind a big desk. Black suit, grey hair, beady little eyes. Anyway, he gets us to sit down and asks my old man what he can do for him. Totally ignores me like I’m not even there. Pissed me off.”

“OK. Now it sounds really freaky.”

“Ya, so I said, ’I’m here to pick up my father’s things.’ The old guy just looked at me all squinty and distasteful-like and repeated his question to my dad. Then my old man dived into it and repeated what I’d said: ’He’s here to pick up the papers his father left with you. I’m just here to provide a introduction.’ Then the old guy sort of raised his eyebrows in surprise or something and started to stare at me like he just recognized me or something. Let me tell you, that really was the weirdest part. Well, except for the package itself ….”

6:19

Gareth pulled out the chair and dropped a big bundle of worn manila envelopes on the table. They were all different sizes and tied together in a neat package with butcher’s string.

He smiled at Rowan and said, “Can I get a beer or something here?”

“Sure, bottles, or they’ve got a pale ale on tap.” Rowan gestured at the passing waitress. “So, everything good?”

Gareth smiled halfheartedly. “I guess. My old man showed, eventually, and it all went the way it was supposed to. Creepy place though.” He nodded towards the bundle. ”And I got what I wanted anyway.”

He paused while the waitress dropped off the beer and mumbled, “Thanks.”

“Not sure how I feel about my old man, though. I thought I’d let it all go,once I got my way, but I still can’t figure why he did it and that just keeps pissing me off again.”

“Hey,” Rowan said slowly, “y’all remember I don’t know nothin’ ’bout this, right? Always did seem a bit too much ’citement about a minor thang. Not enough to rile ya up so much anyway. Not prying, mind ya, just sayin’ is all.”

“Minor? I suppose, but there are a few things you probably don’t know. Like that guy we call my dad … well, not so much. And this stuff here on the table: these belong to my real father. so you can see why it might ’rile me up’ some that he wasn’t letting me have them.”

Rowan stifled the urge to let her jaw drop. She’d known Gareth’s father all her life, or at least she’d thought she had. This certainly changed her viewpoint, more than a tad.