Chapter 14 - The Truck Comes Home
On Wednesday, Ben drove to the warehouse with Nora and his attorney. Sal stayed away at Ben's request. There were no black SUVs and no men standing in the path this time.
Mrs. Alvarez met them at the gate. “You can inspect everything before you sign the receipt,” she said.
The truck had been sitting outside for nearly two weeks. The battery needed a jump, and a heavy tool case was missing a latch. Ben checked the tires, counted his tools, and photographed a fresh scrape along the passenger door.
“I'm signing for possession,” he told the warehouse representative, “not saying there's no damage.”
The man nodded. The attorney added the reservation to the form. The gate opened, and Ben drove out slowly, hands unusually steady on the wheel.
At the first traffic light Nora laughed. Ben looked over in confusion.
“What?”
“We just spent half a month trying to get a truck with a broken heater back.”
He reached over and squeezed her knee. “It's our broken heater.”
They stopped at a garage where Ben could have a mechanic document the truck's condition. He would seek reimbursement for lost side-job income and repairs through his lawyer. Nothing about that would be quick or guaranteed. For that afternoon, the important fact was that he could reach his own tools.
When he parked outside their apartment, Rosie rushed down with Nora and a neighbor. She climbed into the passenger seat and placed Captain Sunday in the cupholder.
“Are we going to drive forever?” she asked.
“Just to the grocery store,” Ben said.
“That's far enough.”
That night Nora went alone to see Sal. He had left her a message saying he wanted to tell her something without asking for forgiveness at the same time.
He stood in his kitchen stirring a pot of tomato sauce. When she was little, her mother had made him do the cooking on Sundays because he was home so rarely the rest of the week. He'd never learned to make enough for fewer than eight people.
“I knew Victor put pressure on Ben years ago,” Sal said. “When Ben refused to store those packages at his old repair shop. I told Victor to stop. Then I didn't check whether he had.”
“Nobody could get parts delivered there for two months,” Nora replied. “Ben lost the shop. You said it was just a business disagreement.”
“I knew better. I didn't want to lose Victor's loyalty.”
Nora watched a bubble break in the sauce. She had waited eight years to hear the truth, and it sounded smaller than she'd imagined.
“You chose the son who stayed,” she said.
Sal set down the spoon. “Yes.”
“That's the part I needed you to say.”
May you like
She did not hug him. He did not reach for her. But before she left, she took a container of sauce home for Ben, who ate two servings and said it needed salt.
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