Page 13 of Help Me Remember

“Yeah, they died a couple of years after you left Port Dale,” Eric said, laying slices of thick-cut bacon into another pan. “A few people were surprised you even showed up for the funerals.”

I frowned. “What, why? How much of an asshole was I?”

Eric looked uncomfortable as he turned to feed bread into the toaster. “I mean, you could be an asshole, but that wasn’t why you might not have shown up. You and your parents…well, you guys didn’t exactly have the best relationship. They weren’t the best parents most of the time.”

“Why? Were they abusive or something?” I asked, wondering if perhaps I had been experiencing buried but not completely gone pangs of mistrust from my childhood.

“No,” Eric said slowly and then sighed. “They were just…mostly absent. They bought you clothes and toys, made sure you were fed and went to the doctors, that you could play hockey for most of high school, and go on field trips and all that. They just…forked over money, pretty much left you to your own devices, and didn’t really parent.”

“I-I don’t know what to say about that,” I said with a frown.

Eric snorted. “If it makes you feel any better, you didn’t like to talk about it much before. I figured things out because you could always do what you wanted when you wanted. Always thought it was pretty cool to have parents like that, but then I started noticing how your parents were barely around when you got older. And, like, they didn’t come to your games. God, they even missed your high school graduation. They kept you alive and healthy, sure, but there’s more to being a parent than that.”

“I guess I got out of it all alright,” I said, still unsure what to say about this ‘new’ information. It certainly didn’t seem like the ideal way to grow up, but for all I knew, it had been golden. It probably hadn’t been, but seeing as I didn’t feel emotionally connected to it at the moment, I couldn’t really say. “Siblings?”

“Uh, you had an older brother. He was four years older than you, died when you were three. You never said, but I’m pretty sure that was when everything with your family fell apart,” Eric said, still looking uncomfortable as he flipped the bacon. “Grief does funny things to people’s heads. And I guess your parents never really got over the loss.”

“From the way you describe it, they lost one son and didn’t bother with the other one.”

“Y-yeah, I guess that’s right.”

“Sorry, this has gotta be awkward for you.”

Eric looked up, eyes widening. “Oh, no! It’s just you didn’t like to talk about your parents or your home life very much. Growing up, I was one of the few people who knew as much as I did, and even then, it wasn’t something you lingered on. So it’s kinda weird to talk about it and try to explain. Not just because I don’t know very much, but…hearing you talk about it is strange. Not your fault.”

“Oh,” I said, figuring that the logic made sense. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Your family.”

“Oh. Nothing like…big. Only child. My mom died in a car crash when I was really little,” he said with a shrug, but I wasn’t convinced of his nonchalance. There was a gleam of what I thought was fear in his eyes, but it disappeared as he continued. “My dad raised me himself. He didn’t know much about raising kids or handling one on his own, so he didn’t always do a great job. But he tried, and he always made sure I was taken care of,” Eric said, looking up with a fond smile. “I try to talk to him a few times a week when I can and see him at least once a week in person if I have the opportunity. He always liked you, asked after you a lot when you left.”

“Oh, uh, probably not a good idea to tell him I’m back,” I said, grimacing. “Because, uh, I’m not really back.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell him you’re here physically. The last thing you need is even more people asking awkward questions you can’t answer properly.”

“You haven’t been doing that,” I told him, a little annoyed on his behalf.

He glanced at me, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I was kinda hoping that was the case, but thank you for making a point to say it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, you haven’t, so whatever.”

Eric snorted. “Noted.”

“Did I date?” I asked suddenly.

“What?”

“Who did I date?” I reprised.

He laughed, shaking his head. “You didn’t date. Ever.”

“Really?” I asked, unable to believe it. Although I didn’t know how he felt about such things, it still felt strange that I wouldn’t have tried to at least date someone like him. He was definitely good-looking and obviously caring and direct. While I didn’t know who I’d been before, I could at least say that someone with his personality should have at least been attractive to me.

He shrugged. “Just wasn’t your thing. You had plenty of girls who were interested, but you always wanted to do your own thing.”

My head snapped up. “Girls?”