Papa always knew her whereabouts but had never really talked about her much. Finding out about the envelopes was the first time I realized how much she’d been on his mind over the years. He later confessed that he’d thought of her often. He knew about my arrangement to see her each week and never tried to talk me out of it. The envelopes were proof that I had underestimated his feelings for his granddaughter. He apparently left the envelopes occasionally when he knew her parents were at work and that she was in school. He was careful not to get caught.
Lilith wanted to know why God didn’t know how to spell her name, because he’d always leave out the ‘H’ at the end. The funny thing was, that was exactly how my father pronounced her name—“Lilit.” So, to this day, she believed that God was sending her money and that He needed spelling lessons.
I couldn’t help but laugh one afternoon when she asked me if I thought God would be offended if she spent some of his money on a Brooklyn Beckham poster. I’d told her to go for it, that God made her the way she is, and fancying handsome boys is part of human nature.
“I told Landon about Lilith, Papa.”
He momentarily stopped buttering his bread. “What he say?”
I knew that worried my father, who was old-fashioned and would have never considered taking up with someone who already had a child. Granted, his choosing a young virgin to marry totally bit him in the ass when my sheltered mother went off the rails into perpetual rebellion, never to return.
“He was shocked. You know he’s adopted. So, he has a lot of unresolved issues with that. I didn’t want to tell him, but I had to, because I’ve fallen in love with him.”
My father looked surprised to hear those words coming out of my mouth. I’d never even admitted to him that I liked anyone let alone loved someone.
He seemed to ponder my words then nodded. “I see.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.” He smiled. “Happy.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just afraid that he won’t be able to get over it.”
Papa always had the same answer for everything. “Pray to Blessed Mother. She fix.”
I normally laughed at him. I mean, this was the same man who swore to have seen the Virgin Mary’s image in a piece of toast. But on this particular day, after my father left, I went over to the statue he’d brought—the one whose primary purpose had been to protect me from Lenny—and prayed.Later that day, I was checking Landon’s app as I normally did, and something troubling was on the screen.
It was a note that said: Landon’s Lunch Box is temporarily closed. Please check back soon for updates.
Freaking out, I picked up the phone and dialed him immediately.
“Landon, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why is the truck shut down?”
“It’s in transition.”
“Transition?”
“Yes. I sold it. Got a buyer unexpectedly.”
“You sold the truck? Why didn’t you tell me you were selling it?”
“I was going to tell you. I didn’t want to give you false hope until I signed on the dotted line. Today’s literally the first day it’s shut down. I wanted to make sure I had everything else in order before I told you.”
“Everything else in order? What do you mean?”
“I mean…I’m getting out of my apartment, and I have to get rid of the Range Rover.”
“What’s happening?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m moving to Michigan. But I didn’t tell you yet because it still might take a while to sell my car and close out all of my business here. But a buyer came about unexpectedly for the truck, so I had to take advantage of that while I could, since that was the biggest hurdle.”
It still hadn’t fully registered. “You’re…moving…here?”
“Did you really think I could stay out here much longer? Clearly you underestimate my need for you.”
Feeling all kinds of happy inside, I didn’t even know what to say. “I mean, of course, I hoped it would happen but—”
“How else are we gonna work on our relationship? I understand now that there’s no way you could ever move here, nor would I ever want you to now that I know about Lilith. There’s no choice. I don’t want to live without you, so I need to get off my ass and move.”
“I had no idea you were moving here so soon. In fact, I was afraid I was losing you. You’ve been a little distant lately.”
“I’m sorry if it seemed that way. I’ve been so busy trying to tie up loose ends here. And I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting. My therapist has really helped me to look at things from a different perspective. I can fill you in on the stuff I’ve learned when I get there. It’s too much to get into right now and over the phone.”