Gemotions

Her father’s stories, recited like scripture, always emphasized his thrift and practicality. He was the man who always knew how to make a dollar stretch. Now, looking through a box of old photos, she discovered something else.

There was her father, younger, more carefree, decked out in expensive clothes, flashing a confident smile while riding a flashy sports car. He was having fun, something she rarely saw from him.

Her breath hitched. The carefully constructed picture of her father, the one that had defined her entire childhood, started to crumble. She closed the lid of the box with a decisive click, her eyes narrowed.