Laughing she shook her head. "Be glad you got good looks. Thirty nine isn't that old." She politely declines his offer for a smoke saying she had quit a while ago. She had quit smoking after leaving New York and had stuck to it.
"Mom told me he was a dick and wanted nothing to do with me. that he ran off when she told him she was pregnant. I think she lied as my Gran said that my dad was nothing like that and I believe her. I've always wanted to get to know him. Every year on my birthday my grandmother gave me a present but she told me I always had to tell my mom they were from my gran instead of my dad. When i was 8 he send me a ukulele. when i told my mom he send it she burned it in the furnace. I didn't want any of the other presents to go the same route. "
Pulling up her sleeve she showed him a charm bracelet containing exactly sixteen charms. "The bracelet was a birthday present from my grandmother. Every Christmas from ninety-seven forth I got one charm with a small note explaining why he chose it and aways signed with 'Love, your father.' Never his name though. I kept every single one of the boxes and notes. Can you tell me which I got last?"