Kimberly agreed to meet Nadine in the lobby of the hotel where Nadine was staying. Kimberly showed up, the two exchanged pleasantries. After a while Nadine said, “It’s a beautiful day. Can we walk on the beach while we talk?”
I’d never been to Jacksonville Beach, but I was mildly surprised to find it as nice as it was. Located on a barrier island east of the city, Jax Beach had plenty of sand, decent but not overwhelming surf, and was relatively un- crowded. Nadine, Kimberly and I walked north along the beach, though I remained fifty yards back. If you saw the big guy in the Penn State ball cap, sunglasses and earbuds, that was me. The earbuds allowed me to listen to their conversation.
Nadine said, “Your father and I spoke about you many times.”
Kimberly said, “Can we just skip to the part where you tell me he’s alive?”
“Excuse me?”
“My father. Donovan Creed. He’s alive. You know it and I know it. So where is he and why hasn’t he contacted me before this?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Kimberly
Nadine was speechless as well. Kimberly started looking around the beach. It took her all of five seconds to spot me. “What a ridiculous disguise,” she said, laughing. She and I ran toward each other like actors in the worst forties movie ever made. When we got close, she leapt up in the air and I caught her in my arms. I spun her in circles as I’d done when she was four, and she hugged me like a long-lost teddy bear she’d rediscovered.
I placed her gently back on her feet and looked at her. She was older, more mature, but she was still Kimberly. She slapped my face.
“I can’t believe you’d do this to me!” she said. “You don’t trust me enough to call or send a message? What the hell kind of father
“The kind who was in a coma for more than three years,” Nadine said, catching up to us, out of breath.
Kimberly looked into my eyes. “I believe it.”
“You do?” I said.
“Yes. If you’d been conscious, you wouldn’t have chosen
I laughed. “It’s so great to see you!”
“You too,” she said. “But you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“I’ll tell you everything. But first, you’ve got to tell me how you knew I was alive.”
She reached into my pants pocket and pulled out my silver dollar, the one my grandfather gave me all those years ago. “This was not among the personal effects they gave me.”
I grinned proudly. Nadine said, “Well, you are certainly your father’s daughter.” To me she said, “Just so we’re clear, I still get to keep the money, and the vacation.”
“You’re the most mercenary shrink I’ve ever known,” I said.
“It’s always nice to be number one,” she said.
I gave her a hug.
“Unacceptable,” she said, pulling away.
“Thanks for trying to help,” I said. “I think I can take it from here. Have a great vacation.”
“I plan to.” She headed back toward her hotel.
The next three days were the best Kimberly and I ever spent together. Hours into the reunion, when the subject of Kathleen and Addie came up, I told her everything and she said, “If Kathleen made you that happy you need to tell her you’re alive. More importantly, she deserves the right to choose what makes her happy.”
“I’m afraid she might choose me out of guilt.”
“And that bothers you because?”
“Tom’s a good man, much better husband material than me.”
