“Have a good afternoon,” she said.

I took the receipt and the plastic bags and walked out through the automatic doors toward my old truck.

I drove slowly through the suburban neighborhood.

The leaves on the old oak trees were turning bright yellow.

A few drifted down onto the street and stuck to the wet asphalt.

I turned onto my parents’ street.

A car was parked perfectly in the middle of their driveway.

It was Ranata’s silver luxury SUV.