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“I have some news,” my mom says.
“You sold another painting?” I ask. She’s selling paintings so fast she can’t keep up with the demand.
“Actually, this is about something else.” I hear the seriousness in her voice and get concerned.
“What is it?”
“It’s about your father.”
My chest immediately tightens. I take a breath, trying to remain calm as I prepare for whatever she’s about to tell me. I pull out a chair and sit down across from Kyle at the kitchen table.
“What about him?” I ask.
“They found him.”
I’m relieved but also worried. I don’t want to deal with this again. Being in the news. Being harassed for what he did. I thought it was over. I was finally living a normal life.
“Did they arrest him? Is he back in town?”
Kyle realizes what we’re talking about and reaches over for my hand, concern on his face.
“No,” my mom says. “He um…” She sighs. “I’m sorry, honey. I hate telling you this.”
“Telling me what?”
“Your father…he wasn’t alive when they found him. They don’t know exactly what happened. They found him on the beach. It happened sometime last week. He’d been living in an apartment in a remote area of Mexico. The police think he’d been drinking and went into the ocean for a swim and drown. I’m sorry, honey. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this.”
Part of me is shocked but the other part of me isn’t. My dad was careless and a risk taker. But I didn’t think he’d die. Not yet.
“Honey, say something,” my mom says. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not really, um…I’m not really sure.”
“Despite what he did, he was still your father so I know it’s hard to hear that he’s gone.”
“It is, but I’d kind of already accepted he was never coming back. So, in a way, it’s like he already died.”
Kyle squeezes my hand, mouthing the words,I’m sorry.
I nod. “Can I call you later, Mom?”
“Of course. But before you go, I need to tell you something else.”
“Go ahead.”
“They found some of the money. They think they’ll find more if they keep looking. They’ll be paying back the people he stole from, as many as they can. That means we’ll probably be getting at least some of our money back. But since I’ve been doing well selling my paintings, I’m going to take whatever money comes back to me and give it to the people he stole from. He spent a lot of the money he took so the authorities will never recover all of it. I want my portion to go to whoever needs to be paid back. Unless you want me to give it to you.”
“No. Absolutely not. It’s your money and you should decide what to do with it. And I agree with what you’re doing. Those people deserve to get their money back. Some of those people gave him everything they had.”
“I knew you’d understand. I love you, honey.”
“I love you too.”
“And tell Kyle I’ll be sending him a check to reimburse him for your tuition. The painting I sold last night at the gallery should cover it.”
“Really? Mom, that’s great. That’s a lot of money.”
“It was a large painting, but yes, I was shocked when it sold for that much.”
