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“Wait…he’s moved back to Blessing. Here is his current address,” Nathan said excitedly.
“Write it down and let’s go,” she said. “I want to speak to him.”
They jumped up and all but ran to the door.
“Do you know where this is?”
“No, but we’ll find it,” he said.
In his truck, he put the address into his navigation system.
“Why didn’t I know he was here?” she said. “I should have looked before I left San Antonio.”
Nathan didn’t reply but took the road that led out of town. They traveled for about ten minutes before the road turned off onto a dirt road.
There were shacks along the lane, and a nervous twinge zipped along her spine. She remembered him as a lively man who laughed and played with her. He was always working on the ranch. Would he remember her?
Occasionally, Grandpa Paul would argue with her grandmother, but they also laughed and smiled and were so very happy together. At least, that’s what her memories told her. But what if they were wrong?
What if her grandmother was right and she should’ve left the past in the past?
They pulled up in front of a small house that needed paint. It looked abandoned.
They stepped out of the truck, and Nathan pulled her behind him. “Stay behind me.”
The wooden porch creaked when they stepped on it and she feared they would fall through the rotten wood.
Nathan knocked on the door. “Paul Bradley, are you in there?”
There was no answer.
He knocked again, and a woman living next door opened her screen door and stared at them. “He’s not home.”
Nathan gazed at her and Lillian thought she’d never seen a woman who looked like she’d been through hell. A cigarette dangled from her lips and she would puff the smoke out through her nose.
“Do you know when he’ll be back?”
She shrugged. “His rent is due, so he’s hiding out until he gets his check. Then he’ll come back and pay me. Who are you?”
Lillian stepped in front of Nathan. “I’m his granddaughter. I would like to talk to him.”
The woman shook his head. “He told me he didn’t have any family.”
“We haven’t seen each other in years.”
The woman nodded. “I look for him to be back the day after tomorrow. His check comes in at the end of the month, and he usually gets drunk. Then he comes back and pays me. That is unless he loses all of his check. Then I’ll be looking for a new renter.”
This didn’t sound like the man she knew. Her grandfather had been an outstanding man who laughed and pushed her on the swing, colored with her, and had even gone to her school play. The man she described didn’t sound the same.
Lillian wished she had a photo of him, but she didn’t.
“Tell him Lillian came by to see him and that I’ll be back,” she said, knowing there was nothing here for her.
The woman nodded. “You might think about paying his rent.”
The woman looked desperate enough to cheat anyone she met out of money.
“I want to wait and speak to him,” Lillian said.
