Father’s Day the Afternoon
Father’s Day the Afternoon 28 June 2026 The restaurant sat tucked between a used bookstore and a vintage clothing shop, its red awning faded to something closer to rust. We'd been coming here since before the girls were born—back when Sunday lunch meant splitting one entrée because that's all we could afford, back when the waitress with the silver-streaked hair still carded us for the beer he never ordered. Now she just waved us toward our usual booth. "Two iced teas," he told her, "and the caprese sandwich." I handed her the menu. "With fruit instead of fries." "And for you, hon?" She turned to me. "The spinach salad. Light dressing." She scribbled and vanished. The restaurant hummed around us—clinking silverware, murmured conversations, the distant hiss of something hitting a hot grill. Sunlight slanted through the front windows, catching the dust motes floating lazy in the air. He reached across the table and took my hand. ...