SHORT FICTION
Selling Furniture and Finding Family
A Heartwarming Tale
It was May, and Bryson stood at the kitchen sink, sipping warm, dark coffee. He gazed through the spotless window. Bryson had posted an ad for a yard sale to sell his furniture set. He didn’t need the furniture or the money, but he didn’t want Arianna to have it, and she didn’t want him to keep it, either. Bryson hoped someone else could make use of it. He and his new love interest, Tessa, arranged the two leather couches and the maroon sectional in the spacious, neatly trimmed front yard. During the two-year-long divorce process, Bryson met Tessa while she was walking her dog on a path near a river. They placed a large TV next to the glass coffee table. Bryson got the idea from Raymond Carver’s story, “Why Don’t You Dance?” Tessa set prices and fitted each item with a tag.
Bryson had lost his wife, Arianna, to a drunk, Jim, down the street in their gated community. Jim had wealthy parents but was allergic to work. Something about Jim drew Arianna into his bed. Bryson couldn’t pinpoint it. Tessa told him it was because he stopped drinking. Bryson was no fun sober, not for Arianna. They were married for five years before Bryson hit a wall of grief. After his mother died from cancer, he adjusted his life. He quit drinking altogether. Bryson had to face life sober. He worked through his downcast gaze with a therapist. She helped him get right in the head.
Bryson walked in on Arianna and her fling; that was all he needed to see. Arianna said they drifted apart.
Bryson agreed because he no longer recognized her.
He agreed to sell the living room set and everything, including the home.
Bryson was managing.
The drunk ruined his marriage, and tariffs shuttered his hardware and appliance chain. Arianna burned him, but Tessa brought him back together again.
“Look.” Tessa nudged him.
“What?” Bryson said.
“Someone’s here.” Tessa leaned on him. “A young couple.” A smile danced on her lips. “In a pickup truck.”
“Just starting out, you think?” Bryson said.
“Let’s go find out.” Tessa pulled his hand and winked.
The two exited the front door.
“Hey guys,” Bryson said on the porch. He rolled up his polo shirt sleeves.
“Hey, sir,” the girl said.
“Good afternoon,” Bryson said.
“How much do you want for the sofa?” The girl was already moving around to check the tags.
The boy plopped himself into a leather recliner. He sighed as though he could picture himself sitting in the chair in their home.
“That was my favorite,” Bryson said. “It still slides back.”
The boy surfed his hand on the side for the level. The motion pulled him back like a dental chair but smoother. “This is the life,” the boy said.
Tessa covered a laugh. “Young love,” she whispered and gave him a flirtatious wink.
“What am I going to do with you?” he said, gripping her shoulder.
“This one’s not too bad, dear,” the girl told the boy. She moved damp strands of hair from her face.
“How much?” the boy asked.
“Says eight hundred dollars.” She squinted to double-check the price.
The girl stopped and swooped, returning to her feet. “You got a baseball here,” she said, tossing and catching the ball a few times. “Hey, Mr.,” she said, throwing him the ball. He caught it with one hand. “Nice arm, kid.” He grinned. “I used to play ball in school.”
Tessa rolled her eyes and tapped his stomach. “Don’t mind him. He always goes on about baseball.”
Bryson couldn’t shake the girl, looking him over-not in a romantic way, but as though she knew something about him that he didn’t know.
Tessa fit her frame into Bryson’s and smiled at him as they watched the couple in the makeshift living room.
“Three hundred,” Bryson said.
“Excuse me?” the girl said, tucking her long, dark bangs behind her ear.
“I’ll sell it for three hundred,” Bryson repeated.
The girl played with her hands and looked at the boy. She twisted back to Bryson. “Two-fifty, and we’ll take it,” she said, searching Bryson’s expression.
Bryson grinned. “You run a hard bargain, kid.”
“It’s just that we’re just starting out, and everything is so expensive.”
“Take it all,” Tessa said.
Bryson nodded. “Take it all.”
“Are you sure?” the boy said.
“For free?” The girl arched a brow.
“I can see you’re pregnant,” Bryson said.
The girl rubbed her stomach. “Yeah.” She glowed.
“Don’t lift anything, sweetheart,” Tessa said like an overly protective mother.
Bryson motioned to the boy. “Grab the other end of that,” he said, his tone echoed that of a father-in-law.
It took a few trips until the couple fit the set in their living room.
The couple was thankful, and so was Bryson.
“You know who that is, right?” Tessa said.
“No idea,” he said. “Should I?”
Bryson was driving back from the young couple’s starter home.
The highway had sparse traffic, but the green spread across either side blended into the wood line with evergreen trees.
“Do you remember a Holly?”
“I knew a Holly in high school, but that was twenty years ago,” he said, drawing out the last four words. He bounced his gaze to her and returned to the road. “What are you saying?”
“Exactly what you think I’m saying,” Tessa said.
“That’s your daughter.”
“I thought it was the guy she cheated on me with,” he said. “I figured he was the father.”
“You went into the military and she didn’t know where to find you.”
“She could have gone to my mother,” Bryson said.
“And your folks relocated to Seattle, so she had no idea what to do.”
Bryson sighed. “She reached out to you, didn’t she?”
“On Facebook.” He saw her nod from the corner of his eye.
“She came across our picture. I guess my sister was friends with Holly.”
“Does the girl know?” he said. “Does she know that I’m her father?”
Bryson turned down a dirt road and parked the car. Soft country played on the radio.
Tessa nodded. “Yes,” she said, her voice cracking. “Maryanne knows.”
“She a confident young lady,” Bryson said.
“She looks just like you.” Tessa giggled, brushing away tears with her fingers. “I saw sparkles dance in her eyes when she looked at you.”
“You could have told me,” Bryson said.
“We’re talking about your beautiful pregnant daughter, and you’re worried about me not telling you?”
“You’re right.” Bryson sighed and motioned.
“I did what she wanted,” Tessa said.
“That’s kind of you,” he said. “I guess I’m calm because I’m in shock. That’s normal, right?”
“You’re doing fine, Grandpa.”
Bryson gave her a plastic smile. “I’m not ready for that.” He held his head in his hands.
“Maryanne is going to be a big sister,” she said. She held up a stick with lines on it.
Bryson lifted his head and squinted. “Is that a pregnancy test?”
“A positive one.” Tessa’s long lashes fluttered, still dotted with tears.
“I love you,” Bryson said. He leaned over the seat and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Bryson started the truck.
“Where are you going?”
“To build our family,” he said.
“That’s the man I fell in love with,” Tessa said, holding his hand.
()
Other posts on Readers Hope
