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“Okay, I’m sending it.” The faint whoosh brought a smile to Palmer’s face.
“How do you feel?” Kent asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m excited, but nervous. I have so many questions that I want answers to, mostly about who my parents are, and who the woman in the brown dress was.”
“What woman?” Kent asked.
Palmer leaned forward and pulled a photo out of her bag. She held it up for Kent to glance at when he had a quick second. “This is all I have from my childhood, and I think that’s me. I don’t know if the memory I have of this woman in the brown dress is mine or if it’s something I generated from looking at the picture so much.”
“Where did you get that?”
She shrugged. “It’s always been with my stuff, so I assumed it was mine.”
“Anything written on the back?”
“Just a year, and if it’s accurate, I’m about three in the photo.”
Kent told her to pick up his phone and to open his notes app. “Start typing your questions or using the microphone to speak into the phone. It’ll transcribe. You should note them down while they’re fresh in your mind.”
“In case my memory fails, right?”
“So you don’t forget,” he countered. He would never tell her that he feared another seizure could wipe out her short-term memory. From this point forward, he would have her document everything they could.
Before I’m Gone
Sit in the front seat of a roller coaster and feel the wind in my hair
Eat tacos or tortillas from a roadside stand in New Mexico
Shop at a large farmers market
Meet Lana Del Rey and see her in concert
Take a picture of the most-painted shed in the US
Sit in the sand and watch the sunrise in Cape Cod
Take the steps to the Lincoln Memorial
Do yoga in Sedona
Tour and feed animals in a wildlife sanctuary
Stand under a waterfall
See Elvis on the street corner in Las Vegas
Hug an elephant
Find my family
Step on grapes and make wine
Run through a wheat field
Drive Route 66
See the marquees on Broadway
Ring the Liberty Bell
Buy a quilt from an Amish stand
See the northern lights in Minnesota
Visit Plymouth Rock
Touch Babe Ruth’s bat
Travel the Loneliest Road
Visit the Muhammad Ali Center
Dance in the rain with someone I love
Take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty
Check out the Grand Canyon
Take every picture I can of Palmer
Make Palmer smile
Eat chowdah in Boston, per Palmer
Eat pizza in Chicago
Try frozen custard in New York City
Get coffee in each city
TWENTY-SIX
“Welcome to the land that’s round on the outside and high in the middle.” Kent laughed at his joke as he pointed to the sign welcoming travelers to Ohio. Palmer scratched her head and gave Kent an odd look. “Do you get it?”
“Clearly not, and don’t try to blame the octopus,” she told him. Ever since she’d received the email from Courtney, Palmer had been on cloud nine—smiling her way through West Virginia. Kent had asked her if she wanted to stop at any of the attractions, but she said no. She was eager to get to Missouri, not that Kent could blame her. He was also on the edge of his seat. Not only with nerves, but trepidation. The last thing he wanted was for this meeting to not go as Palmer had planned in her head.
Kent feigned being hurt by her accusation that he’d blamed her tumor for her not getting his joke. Against his better judgment, he held his hands up and made an o, and said, “O-HI-O. Do you get it now?”
Palmer rolled her eyes and pointed at the road. “Eyes on the road, mister.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
“And yes, I get it now. That’s sort of a dumb joke.”
“What are you talking about? It’s the classic dad joke.” Again, he pretended her words hurt him. “Man, you’re a tough nut to crack sometimes.”
Palmer opened their travel book and used Kent’s phone to magnify the pages. He tried not to frown, but knowing her eyes were deteriorating quickly bothered him. He needed to email her neurologist with an update and ask if there was something they should or could do to help her. Kent hated the idea of Palmer going blind before their trip concluded.
“It says here that for the next fifty miles we’ll be able to see the remains of coal mines and overgrown rail-fenced cornfields, and apparently if we come across a gift shop, we can buy moonshine.”
“Are you looking to get drunk?” Kent asked her. “Because that stuff will knock you on your tail, and you won’t move for days.”
“Hard pass for me,” she said without taking her eyes off the book. “But if you want some, I’ll drive.” Palmer chuckled as Kent scoffed.
“Do you want to learn how to drive?” he asked her.
She studied him for a long minute and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. I don’t know that I’m missing anything from not driving. Honestly, it looks sort of boring.”
