Before the Car | Escapes #0.5

Chapter 3

What was the point? 

That was the question I was asking on day three of the family reunion. I had only talked to Dad and Charlie, said a few words to Aunt Darlene, and somehow never said a thing that I wanted to. Three days of silence; three days of being ignored. I was just lucky that I was going home that day. 

I was pretty much waiting around for Dad to drive me back to campus from the time I woke up. My bag was packed up and in the hallway. Not that I'd ever unpacked. That was the last thing I wanted to do in that house. Unpacking meant I was going to be there a while. I wanted to leave as soon as I set foot in there. 

Not because I didn't like the place. No, I loved it. The house was huge and beautiful and the time of year we went was one of the best. I could sit outside reading for hours. The lake was gorgeous. I wanted to one day bring my family there and have a photo shoot. Though that day was probably still a long ways off.

I checked my phone for the umpteenth time. It was now nearly lunchtime, and I knew that if the family wanted my dad to stay for lunch, I'd be stuck here another hour or two. Sighing, I got up and walked towards the living room where they were all gathered. My dad looked over when he noticed me waving. I pointed to my wrist and shrugged. 

"Well, Aunt Darlene, I'm going to go ahead and head out," he said as he stood. "My son is waiting on me. I'll see everyone next time." He gave everyone a round of hugs and kissed his aunt. "Take care!" He waved at everyone as he left the room. "Ready?" he asked as he passed me. 

"Of course." I grabbed my suitcase and followed him out to the car. He popped the trunk and I lifted it. To my surprise, he'd already loaded all of his things in the car. When had he done that? Curious, I fit my luggage alongside his and got in. 

We started the journey home, and I turned up the radio. He turned it back down. "Talk to me," he said. "It's a good thing to do. We can learn about each other. Tell me about something you did on our visit."

I scoffed. "You mean other than be laughed at and ignored? Oh, I went fishing. That was as bad as I anticipated. Can I never come back here again?"

He frowned as I spoke, but smiled over at me when I finished. "You're going to work for me this summer. Part-time, and mainly in the office, but you're going to work for me."

My eyebrows rose. "Seriously?" He'd had me come in before, but not as a paid worker. 

"Seriously. You'll be making minimum wage, and I can promise that you won't have an end to things you'll need to do." 

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Dad."

"You know, most kids aren't that happy to work. Weirdo." He laughed as I punched him playfully in the arm. "Seriously, though. I had Charlie work some at one of my stores as a stock boy, and he was one of the worst employees I had. I ended up getting someone to convince him to quit. It wasn't hard."

"Probably played up his ego," I said bitterly. 

"All it took was someone telling him he was too smart to work in the stock room, and he was gone." We both chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "You, though, I have high hopes for you. You're going to do just fine. I'm sure of it."

"So what will I be doing specifically?"

He shrugged. "Some stocking, since we kind of need someone else to help. Right now, there's a young lady and a couple of guys doing it on rotating shifts, but we need someone else once in a while to help out. The young lady often ends up stocking by herself. Other than that, my store does payroll in house and prints off checks for each employee. You would be helping out with that for the most part."