If you ever want to know who someone really is, watch them when they think nobody’s looking.
The morning of Dad’s funeral, I stood in the kitchen holding a mug gone cold. I scrolled through photos on my phone, searching for a new detail — a grin, a wink, the oil-smudged Shelby behind us.
I tapped a photo of Dad laughing, his arm slung around me, and tried to remember the sound.
Karen wasn’t in a single frame, not even the group shots. She used to say, “Don’t get grease on the door handles, Hazel.”
Dad would just wink at me over her head.
A car horn jolted me; I nearly dropped my phone. My throat tightened like someone had cinched a rope inside it.
“Don’t get grease on the door handles, Hazel.”
That’s when Karen’s number lit up the screen.
Her voice was thin and papery.
“Hazel? I can’t go today. I can’t do it… The doctor said stress could —”
“Karen, it’s Dad’s funeral. I’ll pick you up if you need…”
“I know. But I’m sorry. I just… can’t. Will you handle things?”
I swallowed hard. “Yeah. I’ll handle it.”
“I can’t go today. I can’t do it…”
I pressed the brake, feeling the familiar rumble of Dad’s Shelby settle through me. The lot was already packed. I found a spot under the old maple and killed the engine, resting my forehead on the steering wheel.
My fingers lingered on the keys — my car was in the shop, so I’d driven Dad’s all week. Every mile felt both like a tribute and a theft.
Dad should have been behind this wheel, not me. He should have been here.
Aunt Lucy hurried over as I got out, her eyes red but sharp.
“Oh, my darling girl! I can’t believe you brought it,” she said, nodding at the car.
My fingers lingered on the keys.
I shrugged, managing a wobbly smile. “He would’ve wanted it at his send-off. Besides, the Camry’s transmission finally gave up.”
She squeezed my hand. “Your father would have called that poetic.”
Light streamed through stained glass, dust lifting. For a second, I believed Dad might walk in late, joking about Main Street traffic.
The eulogy was a blur. I spoke about Dad’s patience, his stubbornness, the way he kept everything he loved running long after others would have given up.
“Your father would have called that poetic.”
“Dad always said you don’t quit on the things you love, even when it gets hard. He fixed up his father’s Shelby, bolt by bolt, for 30 years. He never let it rust. He did the same for people, too — especially when we made it difficult.”
My voice trembled, but I kept going. He would’ve wanted that.
When it was over, I was one of the last to leave the sanctuary, Aunt Lucy at my side.
“I’ll meet you at the car, Hazel,” she said, ducking back for her purse.
I nodded. We were going to check in on Karen on the way home.
He would’ve wanted that.
I stepped into the sunshine — and froze. Dad’s Shelby wasn’t where I’d parked it. Instead, a battered flatbed sat idling in the space, ramps down. The ramps looked like open jaws.
I ran, my dress twisting.
Karen was at the curb, sunglasses low, a thick white envelope clutched in her fist. Next to her stood a man in a faded cap, a clipboard tucked under his arm.
“Karen! What’s happening?”
She barely turned to face me.
“Hazel, it’s just a car. The buyer’s here. I sold it. Two grand, cash. He wanted it moved fast, and so did I.”
Dad’s Shelby wasn’t where I’d parked it.
Two thousand. For thirty years of bolts, blood, and Saturday mornings.
“You can’t be serious! You knew I’d need to drive home. This isn’t what Dad… he loved that car. You knew that!”
Karen’s lip curled. “Your father loved a lot of things that didn’t love him back. You’ll survive.”
Aunt Lucy’s voice cut through the lot. “Selling his legacy outside this church isn’t grief, Karen. It’s disgrace.”
The man shuffled his feet. “Ma’am, do you want the title now or —?”
I stepped between them. “That car isn’t just a piece of metal. It’s a part of this family. I can’t believe you. You didn’t just sell a car. You sold the last piece of him before he was even in the ground.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Family changes. Get in, Hazel. I’ll give you a ride,” Karen shot back. “You know, your father would have understood.”
I stood firm, feeling the world tilt.
“Not without answers, Karen. Not today.”
I wanted to hate her. I needed her to be simple — greed with a face I could point at. But the way her hands shook around that envelope told me this wasn’t just theft. This was panic. And panic makes people do irreversible things.
Maybe grief makes monsters. But she chose the lie. She chose today.
“Your father would have understood.”
I stared after the flatbed as it turned the corner, the Shelby’s silhouette shrinking in the distance. I pressed my palms to my knees, fighting the urge to scream.
All week I’d thought: get through the funeral, then it would settle.
Instead, everything I had left of my dad was disappearing down the road.
Aunt Lucy hovered, clutching her purse. “Hazel, come sit down. You’re shaking.”
I slumped onto the curb, elbows on my thighs, head bowed. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Karen pacing at the lot’s edge, sunglasses off now, jaw tight.
I stared after the flatbed as it turned the corner.
For a second, I thought she’d just leave, but instead she drifted toward the cemetery gate, staring at the row of fresh flowers by Dad’s new grave.
I fidgeted with my house keys. My phone buzzed — a friend asking if I needed a ride home, someone else sending a photo from the service.
I ignored them all.
My chest burned with regret. Maybe if I’d just argued with Karen harder or brought the title with me or…
A tear slipped down my cheek. I swiped it away, glancing over as Karen crouched by Dad’s headstone. I saw her lips moving. Maybe she was praying, maybe apologizing… maybe both.
I ignored them all.
Could I offer the buyer more money? Go to the police? I felt so helpless.
Karen stood slowly, brushing dirt from her skirt. She didn’t look at me as she walked back — her eyes were red, her cheeks blotchy.
For a moment, I saw the woman Dad had tried so hard to love, not just the woman who’d sold his car.
Before I could stand, a silver sedan rolled into the lot, tires crunching over gravel. The driver — young, oil under his nails — jumped out with a sealed plastic bag, looking rattled.
I felt so helpless.
“Are you Hazel?” he asked, glancing between me and Karen. “Buyer wanted a quick inspection of the Shelby before he signed the final paperwork. We were told to meet him here. We found this. The boss said you needed to see it first.”
Karen moved fast, grabbing for the bag. “It’s probably just more of Thomas’s junk.”
But as she ripped it open and saw what was inside, her face lost all color. The envelope fluttered to the ground.
It was like it couldn’t stand being in her hands anymore.
Karen sat hard on the curb beside me, shaking, her breathing gone thin.
“It’s probably just more of Thomas’s junk.”
Inside the bag was a thick envelope. I stared at the blocky handwriting, my hands shaking.
Karen reached over, snatching it from me before I could move. She fumbled with the seal, tore it open, and scanned the first page.
Her breath caught. She staggered and dropped the papers. Receipts and a letter fanned out across the pavement.
I bent to pick them up, glancing at the receipt — $15,000 paid to Royal Seas Cruises. My stomach turned. Dad didn’t throw money around.
Inside the bag was a thick envelope.
“Karen, what is this?”
Her voice was raw. “He… he bought us a cruise. For our anniversary. He never said anything.”
Aunt Lucy stepped closer. “Let her read the letter.”
Karen pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, then shoved the page at me. “Read it, Hazel. Please. Out loud.”
I swallowed, finding Dad’s heavy script.
“Karen,
I know you better than you think.
If you’re reading this, it means you finally got rid of the Shelby. I was never perfect. I shut down after Megan died. Yes, we’d been divorced for a long time, but she was the mother of my only child.
“Karen, what is this?”
But I never stopped loving you. I bought us this cruise hoping we’d find each other again.
I know you never understood why I kept that car—it was the only piece of my father I had left.
I was just trying to save us, in my own clumsy way.
If you can’t forgive me, I understand.
All I ever wanted was to make things right.
—Thomas.”
Everyone was silent. Karen covered her face, sobbing.
Aunt Lucy squeezed my arm. “He really did try, Hazel. For both of you.”
“If you can’t forgive me, I understand.”
The mechanic, Pete, stood awkwardly with his cap in his hands.
“I’m really sorry, Hazel. My boss says we can undo the sale if you want. Nobody knew about any of this.”
“Nothing’s filed yet,” he added. “Not officially.”
I swallowed hard. Karen looked at the envelope like it was a bomb about to go off.
She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. “I can’t take it back. Not after what I’ve done. Take the money. Take the cruise. Hazel, please. I can’t… I can’t even look at it.”
She shoved the envelope at Aunt Lucy. “Take it. All of it.”
“Take the cruise. Hazel, please. I can’t… I can’t even look at it.”
Aunt Lucy didn’t touch it.
“It goes into the estate account,” she said. “You don’t get to buy your way out of this.”
“If you want to go, go, Hazel. Or we can —” Karen’s voice faltered. “Maybe you and I could use a reset too. I don’t expect forgiveness. I just can’t be alone right now.”
Aunt Lucy stepped in, her presence a soft anchor. “Not here. Home. Then lawyers.”
I lifted my chin.
“Call your boss. Right now. Tell him the title is disputed, the sale is contested, and if that car moves again, the next call is to the police — and my attorney.”
“You don’t get to buy your way out of this.”
Pete blinked, then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
I turned to Karen. “You don’t get to hide behind ‘surviving spouse’ after what you just did.”
Aunt Lucy stepped forward, loud enough for the people still drifting past.
“Karen will sign whatever the lawyer puts in front of her. Today.”
Karen opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Pete nodded, eyes darting between us. “I’ll tell my boss the sale is frozen — and I’ll put it in writing.”
“I almost asked Dad for help last week,” I blurted, surprising myself. “I was behind on rent. I kept putting it off. Now I never can.”
“I’ll put it in writing.”
Karen met my eyes. Her mascara had run, making her look younger… and lost. “We all wanted something from him. That’s the problem, isn’t it? We just kept taking.”
I nodded, a lump rising in my throat. In the envelope, behind the letter, was a small photo—Dad and me in the garage, both laughing, grease everywhere. On the back, in his spiky handwriting: “We don’t quit on things we love.”
I found the postscript — just for me.
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? We just kept taking.”
“Hazel,
If you’re reading this, you’ve always been the best part of me.
Don’t let bitterness make you small. Keep your spine straight. Keep your heart generous. Love hard, even when it hurts.
Everything I leave behind will be split between you and Karen.
You were my reason to try.
—Dad.”
The words hit me harder than the funeral did.
“You were my reason to try.”
Aunt Lucy’s arm found my shoulders. Karen’s sobs quieted. Family members squeezed my hand as they walked by.
As the sun slipped behind the church roof, I closed my fist around the spare key. The Shelby wasn’t gone forever — just out of reach for now.
Aunt Lucy called, “Home, Hazel. And Karen, your choices don’t get to steer this family anymore.”
I followed, grief heavy in my chest, but something steadier underneath. Not forgiveness. Control.