I drove home that evening with my hands still shaking on the steering wheel. The sun had already started to set. Cars moved around me, but I barely noticed them.
All I could see was that photo.
When I reached Mom’s house, the porch light was already on. I stepped inside and dropped my bag on the chair. Mom looked up from the kitchen table, where she had been sorting bills.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she said gently.
I barely noticed them.
I sat down across from her. “You remember Dad’s watch?”
Her eyebrows lifted slightly. “The silver Rolex?”
“Yeah.”
She studied my face. “What happened, Kelly?”
“We admitted a stroke patient today.” I looked down at my hands. “It was him.”
Mom leaned back in her chair, absorbing the words.
“You remember Dad’s watch?”
“A stroke?” she asked softly.
“Massive one. Right-side paralysis. His wife left him at the hospital entrance.”
Mom didn’t react the way I expected. She didn’t look angry or surprised.
She just sighed. “Life has a way of circling back.”
“He gave me the watch.”
Mom tilted her head.
