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“Your wife works, too?” Mom asks.
He glances in the rearview mirror. “Yes, ma’am. We do what is necessary to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies and not get behind on bills.”
“How old are your children?” my father wonders.
“Ten, nine, and six,” he says proudly. “Two girls and a boy. Boy’s the youngest so he’s got a couple extra mothers.” He chuckles. “Caught our oldest trying to feed him once. Saw her mama doing it, you know…” he gestures to his chest, “and thought she could, too. Didn’t work out so well.”
“Wow. You’re busy, huh?” I say, laughing. I can just picture a little four-year-old trying to nurse her baby brother because she figured that’s how it was supposed to be done.
“Good busy, ma’am. They keep us on our toes for sure.”
My mom looks out the window and I wish so badly I knew what she was thinking.
“So you substitute teach?” my dad asks.
He nods. “Yeah. We moved here from Ohio to Mt. Juliet to be closer to my mother-in-law after she had a bad fall. She needed help with her recovery and we didn’t want her to be stuck in a nursing home or assisted living. She couldn’t afford the in-home care that would be necessary ‘cause she couldn’t even go to the bathroom or shower on her own.” He shakes his head and takes a left at a stop sign. “Felt so bad for her. Only forty-five and lost the freedom to do those basic things for herself? Had to be awful for her. But she never complained. Anyway, we moved here, bought a place that she could move into with us, and got her out of her apartment. Before I could get a new teaching job, I had to get certified for teaching in Tennessee. Instead of just sitting around waiting for a job to come up, I put my name in to substitute. The school knows I’m looking for more but also that I’m willing to sub as much as possible so I get called about four times a week.”
“That’s commendable, to step up like that for your mother-in-law. I don’t know many people who would do that.”
No, he doesn’t. Because in his circle, they’d pay someone to do what this guy did on his own.
He shrugs off the compliment and shakes his head. “Not sure there’s any other way, sir. She’s family and needed us.”
He says it so plainly. Exactly how it should be. The way Cash’s family is, from what I’ve seen.
I glance over at my mom who’s still staring out the window.
What is she thinking?
Is she even listening to the conversation?
“Don’t downplay what you did. There’s plenty of folks out there who wouldn’t uproot their lives for someone. And working two jobs, both of you, to support your family is hard and noble.”
“Thank you, sir,” he responds, though he still seems like he’s unaware of why it’s such a big deal.
A few minutes later we pull up to the hotel and I add an extra fifty onto my tip through the app.
“Thank you,” I tell him as I’m getting out of the car. “Liked hearing your story.”
He glances at his phone that’s in a mount on his dash and darts his eyes to me still standing in the door by the back seat. “You didn’t…”
“Yes. I did. Thank you for being a good human.”
He nods and swallows hard and that’s when I notice several crisp one hundred-dollar bills in his cupholder.
Dad.
He sees where I’m looking and his head jerks to where my father is helping my mom out of the car.
“Sir…”
“Thanks for the ride,” Dad says with a firm nod. “You inspired me today. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replies, seemingly at a loss for words.
I have no idea how much money Dad gave him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a couple thousand. Dad carries a lot of cash at all times. He’s old school and doesn’t like to use cards of any kind.
We make our way into the hotel and I let them into our hotel room so they can clean up. While Mom is in the shower, Dad takes a seat and leans his head back.
