Ch17
Ah, I am so Happy!
-R-
After that day, Robert and Sara became much closer. They met every day, talked, danced, ate, took walks and anything else; things that were very common, but very special because they loved each other. It was much more amazing than what Robert had imagined. He felt like his life had turned into a movie. Every morning, he woke up feeling happy. Everything around him was great. It was too good to be true for him. It was hard to believe it was his life because he was so happy. He thought it was worth it to go through all of the pain in his life if Sara was the reward for it all.
In spite of the happiness they shared, they knew there would be an end to it. Robert told Sara that he was leaving, and Sara was aware of it. The difference was that, Robert knew everything would just end within a month, but Sara believed that they could do a long distance relationship and see each other in the future. Robert sometimes thought he was too selfish. If I just disappeared, she will be sad. It is irresponsible. I don't want to hurt her... but she will meet someone great for sure. Robert thought he could come up with a good excuse so Sara could forget him. He wished Boldo was with him.
Robert was about to finish his will, but it was very simple. He was giving all the money to his family. However, he didn’t think it was enough. He wanted to tell his family that he was sorry. He did not know how, so he decided to write a letter.
He went outside and the morning greeted him. Robert looked up at the deep blue sky. He felt like he was being sucked in by the sky. He thought about what he needed to do that day. He needed to go to the mall to buy stuff for hiking, and buy groceries to cook dinner with Sara. He drove to the mall. He parked his car at Macy's and went upstairs. He saw the peach color dress on the mannequin. She would look amazing in this.
"Are you looking for something?" An African American employee came to him.
"No, I am just looking around. It's a pretty dress."
"Yes, are you shopping for your girlfriend?"
The word 'girlfriend' sounded amazing. He was just happy talking to Sara, but now Sara was his girlfriend.
"Yes," Robert answered.
"You can look around here, too." The employee escorted him to the dress section. He was surrounded by women's clothes.
"Well. I will come back with her later," Robert said and moved to look for what he needed. When he was looking for a jacket, he noticed someone was standing behind him. He thought it was another employee.
"Excuse me." That person tapped Robert's shoulder. Robert turned back, and there was an old lady standing in front of him. Robert almost freaked out when he saw her. Oh, no! It's Nancy!
Nancy seemed shocked. Her face was like she just saw a ghost. Robert was shocked, too, and he did not know how to react to it. He tried to calm down.
"Yes?" Robert said. Nancy opened her mouth but could not say the word at first.
"What...is your name?"
"It' Joe."
"Oh...ok. I think I confused you with someone." She awkwardly smiled. "Sorry." She stepped back.
Robert turned around and pretended he was looking at clothes, but he was sweating. He heard Nancy walking away. Robert sighed. He did not expect to meet someone who would recognize his young appearance. Robert slowly turned back. He could see Nancy talking with a man and a little girl from a distance. They look familiar. Robert remembered that he saw them in the Facebook photo. It was Hannah's husband and daughter. Her daughter looked a lot like when Hannah was young. When Robert realized that she was his granddaughter, he wanted to see her closer. He moved to the side and started walking toward them trying not to being seen. His granddaughter was playfully walking around. She was a lovely little girl. Robert smiled, and he wanted to hold her in his arms.
"Irene come here. Don't go far away," Her father told her. That's right. Her name was Irene. Robert remembered.
"Grandpa!" Irene ran to an old man that was coming toward them. Robert recognized Gary. Gary held Irene in his arms and smiled. Robert felt his heart aching. He was not mad at them anymore, but he felt like Gary had stolen his life. No, it was all my fault. Robert kept staring at Irene. She was like a little angel. He imagined Irene running to him calling him 'grandpa.' At that moment, Robert saw Nancy looking at him, and he had to leave. He almost ran from them. While he was running down to the parking lot, he felt many emotions at the same time.
He was spaced out when he came back home. He pulled out his laptop and saw Irene's photo on Hannah's Facebook. He saw photos from Christmas and New Year’s day. Irene was smiling with her big presents. He kept seeing their family photos. Sometimes John made funny faces, and Robert had never seen him like that. As he kept seeing those pictures he felt the dark feeling growing inside of him. He forgot about that feeling for a while. That feeling brought back memories of how his holiday season went. Robert did not like the holiday season. He drank and tried to sleep, wishing the holidays would be over. He spent Year’s day throwing up and suffering from a hangover just like other holiday. He hated those memories. This is why I tried not to see their photos. He covered his face and felt himself getting more sad and depressed. When Robert was suffering from his emotions, his cell phone rang from a text message.
-What are you doing? Run to my house, I baked some brownies! :)
At the moment he saw Sara's text, he could feel his depression melting away. One text message from Sara could crush all of the dark memories Robert harbored, like magic.
Robert had Sara. Even though he had lost everything, Sara being next to him was the most important thing to him. She was his light, and that light saved him. Robert smiled with happiness. His heart was now filled with gratitude.
When Nancy came back to the hospital with Irene, Hannah was sleeping. Nancy told Irene to be quiet and Irene nodded and smiled. Irene thought it was fun when everybody spoke quietly. Hannah was doing well, and she was waiting to get another surgery. Nancy sighed. She could not stop thinking about the young man that she saw that day. He looked the same as her ex-husband. She thought about Robert and she wondered how he was doing. She left the room and called John.
“Yes, Mom." John answered quickly.
"Hey, John. How are you?"
"Same old."
"Have you...met your father, I mean Robert?"
"I couldn't. He wasn’t there, and this young guy was living there. He said he was dad's cousin.
"Cousin?"
"Yes."
"Oh, ok. So he wasn’t at home?" Nancy tried to remember Robert's side of the family.
"Nope. He wasn't. Anyway, apparently Dad is traveling out of the country."
"Really? He sent me a message a couple weeks ago asking about Hannah. I think he has changed."
"Wait, a couple weeks ago? That's weird. He emailed me and said his travelling would take longer than a couple months."
"I don't know. Anyways, I want to say thanks to him, but as you know he doesn't like me at all."
"Ok, I will visit him later."
"Would you? Thanks. I wish I could talk to him more but..."
"Mom."
"Yes."
"It's ok. You always did your best. Don't feel bad."
"Thanks..." Nancy thought about telling John about the guy she saw that day, but she thought it sounded crazy.
"Grandma." Irene opened the door and leaned on the door and said, "Mom is awake."
"Ok. I'm coming." Nancy went to see her sick daughter.