1
HARPER
The last time I saw my estranged father was at his gravesite in Meadowshade Cemetery. It's hard to explain the grief that came with mourning someone who felt more like a ghost than a memory. There were no words to explain what it’s like to grieve a man you had already begun to forget.
He walked out on us when I was only eleven, and Reed was seventeen—just disappeared. The only things he left behind were silence and confusion. My stepbrother, Reed, and I came home from school that day to find the drawers empty, his clothes gone, his presence wiped clean from the house as if he’d never been there at all. No note. No goodbye. Just the lingering echo of his voice that morning telling me, “Have a good day, sweetie.”
I sat in front of a cold granite headstone etched withSebastian River Rhodes. Beloved son, brother, father, and friend.I stared at those words, trying to make sense of them. Beloved? By whom? It felt strange to see love inscribed when love had been absent for so many years.
Sitting there, I realized with brutal clarity that there wouldnever be a chance for closure. No apology. No explanation. No, "I’m sorry." No, "I love you." Just dirt, silence, and a name carved in stone.
Anessa, my stepmom, had already been unraveling long before he left. Addiction sank its teeth into her after her first husband died, but after my dad vanished, it consumed her. Reed and I were kids trying to hold our collapsing world together. But she didn’t want saving—or maybe she just didn’t believe anyone could save her.
As I grew older, I learned to see her alcohol addiction for what it really was: a disease. A cruel one. It didn’t just steal her; it stole the version of our family we could’ve had. Anessa often chose to prioritize drinking over spending time with Reed and me. She hid bottles of alcohol in different places around the house, making sure they were accessible only to her. The control of the disease was visible in her weight changes and the way her face seemed to age rapidly.
Reed ended up carrying all the weight. He was the one who figured out how to get us out, how to keep us alive, how to move forward when everything we knew was disappearing right in front of our eyes. We had only been siblings for nine years, but he never left me behind.
After moving out, I stopped blaming our mom for what she put us through. But I also knew I couldn’t welcome her back into my life until she was clean. To this day, I still had hope for her.
But for now, all that’s left was a memory, a gravestone, and the ache of something unfinished.
I ripped out a few pieces of grass from in front of my dad’s headstone and thought back to when I first found out he had died, a year ago today.
It was the beginning of August in twenty twenty-four, and I had just turned twenty-six when my uncle reached out to tell us of his passing.
My uncle Jay caught up with Reed and me every couple of years. He usually just called for updates, and this year marked the longest we had gone without hearing from him. Jay had called Reed and explained that he needed to talk to both of us in person. It was clearly important, since I had gone half a decade without seeing him in person.
Reed immediately called me after their conversation and told me we were meeting him on Saturday at Bayview Brunch House.
When Saturday came, he picked me up from the apartment I shared with Lena, and we drove in silence. I think we were both preparing for the other shoe to drop.
By the time we arrived, my dad’s brother was waiting for us. Uncle Jay was hardly recognizable. He was slimmer than he used to be, but his dark face had aged. His beard was thin and speckled with gray hairs. He wore a baseball cap and a purple Sawyers Cove Cyclones hockey jersey. As we walked towards him, he gave us an enormous smile that showed off his left dimple.
Uncle Jay was the first to speak when he opened his arms for a hug. “Hey, Reedster. Hey, Harpie. How are you guys doing? I’m so sorry it’s been so long.”
As much as I loved my uncle, I just wanted to know what was so important. We weren’t here to shoot the shit. I wanted him to be straightforward. Before taking a seat next to my brother, I hugged him back. “I’m fine, just confused about what was so important that we had to meet you in person after all this time.” I propped my elbow on the table and rested my chin on my fist, waiting for his reply.
He looked between Reed and me, seeming frantic. He scratched his beard and let out a breath. “My brother, your father, is dead.”
The hand that rested under my chin dropped to the table with a loud thud. My eyes widened in absolute horror. My dadleft when I was young, but there wasn’t a day in my life where I wished this. I figured maybe one day he would try to make amends. I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, he was my dad; on the other, he was a total stranger.
I glanced around the small restaurant. I couldn't even figure out what to say. Should I apologize for his loss? It should’ve felt like my loss as well, right? Should I ask how? Do I need to know? Do we have to plan a funeral? My mind spiraled until Reed spoke.
“How? When?” His voice came out hoarse. He was gripping his thigh with one hand, as if to stop his leg from bouncing. The other hand ran through his dark hair, causing pieces to stick up.
My brother was always the calm in a storm, even as a kid. He was a rock. But looking at him now, I could see how disheveled he was—almost as if he knew whatever today brought would be bad news. His green eyes were tired, almost dull, as if he hadn’t slept last night. Even his outfit lacked effort. He wore sweatpants and a plain T-shirt with what looked like a toothpaste stain. I felt like something more was going on besides the surprise of my––our—dad’s death.
“He was in a car accident. He made it to the hospital but was pronounced dead before they could even work on him.” Uncle Jay rubbed his forehead, as if the memory caused him physical pain. I didn’t know if they were close, but that was his only brother.
Reed nodded in understanding, not saying another word. I think this was him taking in the fact that both of his dads were now dead. Or maybe he felt how I felt. There would never be closure. I had now lost both my birth parents and still could not pinpoint how I felt.
Our uncle let out a long sigh and spoke. “I know he left you guys without so much as an explanation. I know he never called or put in any effort to make amends or help. He never tried to support either of you, and truthfully, he gave up on yourmother. Harper, you were his flesh and blood, and he just up and left. I am not one to make excuses forhisshitty choices and never will be.” Reed’s fist clenched under the table at the mention of Anessa, but Jay kept talking. “I know you may not need or want it, but Harper…” He grabbed my hand that still rested on the table. “He left you his house and a trust fund. Reed left you a trust as well. He never forgot about you guys. I’d like to believe that he was so fucking ashamed of how he left things that he never gained the courage to face you two.”
My jaw clenched, ripping my hand out of his gentle grasp, and I spat out, “I refuse to believe that, and I don’t want or need shit from him. I’m sorry for your loss, Uncle Jay, truly. I couldn’t imagine the feeling of losing my only brother.” I glanced at Reed. If anything happened to my brother, I would’ve been lost, no matter how old I was. “But this changes absolutely nothing. He left our family. He left me. And now he's dead—but he’s been dead to us… to me, for well over a decade.” I couldn’t meet my uncle's gaze; I felt as if I did, I would burst into tears. This was all too much.
I felt Reed’s eyes burning into my skin, but he stayed silent. My uncle let out a chuckle and gave a small shake of his head. It caught us off guard. We looked at each other in surprise.
“Harpie, this is the bare minimum he could do for giving you guys less than nothing for almost twenty years. Take the house. I will clean out the property, so you don’t have to worry about that. Take the money and turn the house into your home. He wasn’t a great man, not even a good one, but believe me, he wanted to do this for you two. The money will be enough to do what you need with the home and finish paying off school. And Reed, the money will be enough for a decent savings, a down payment on a home, or maybe an engagement ring for that girlfriend of yours. Do something good for yourselves. Lord knows you two deserve it.”
