Gloves? Check.
Sunglasses? Check.
Keys? Check.
Before leaving, I took a moment to just stand there. The rooms around me were safe and comfortable, much like the life I’d slowly stitched together over decades.
It wasn’t that I was lonely, exactly. Though perhaps I felt something adjacent to loneliness.
Sighing, I locked the cottage behind me and walked to the hearse as the sun started to rise in the distance, spreading warm light across the sky.
Today, I would begin untangling the strange, grief-filled little ecosystem inside that enormous house.
And possibly confiscate several spiders.
By the time I reached the Lawrence estate, it was officially dawn.
Every lower window in the house was lit while the upper floor remained mostly dark. Humans fascinated me in their insistence on waking before the sun, despite being so poorly designed for it.
I parked and checked the sky automatically before stepping out. Still cloudy. Excellent.
The front door opened before I reached it.
Mr. Lawrence stood there with a travel mug in one hand and fatigue already settled into the lines around his mouth. His hair was damp, and he looked like he was trying to assemble himself into something resembling professionalism before he was even fully conscious.
It had been many years since I was near a freshly bathed, non-dead man. I’d forgotten how attractive they could be.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning.”
Scents assaulted me as soon as I stepped inside. Coffee. Toast. Peanut butter. Burnt sugar.
CJ sat at the kitchen island, only partially dressed in his school uniform. His curls were slightly flattened from sleep, and he held a mug in both hands with the solemn dignity of a tiny accountant.
He brightened instantly when he saw me. “Winnie.”
“Good morning, CJ.”
He lifted the mug proudly. “Dad lets me have coffee.”
Mr. Lawrence held his hands up defensively. “Please don’t judge me. It’s mostly warm milk, I swear.”
CJ looked offended by this betrayal. “Thereiscoffee in it.”
“There is one spoonful of coffee in it.”
“And sugar.”
“Yes, an alarming amount of sugar.”
I slowly removed my gloves as I observed CJ more closely. The boy was fully awake this early and already downstairs. I saw no backpack nearby. He didn’t have shoes on yet. There was no urgency whatsoever toward actually beginning the school day.
He wanted time with his father.
He sat angled toward Mr. Lawrence. The unconscious movement told me he was trying to prolong connection.
Mr. Lawrence moved toward the counter and checked his watch. “All right, buddy. You should head upstairs and finish getting ready.”
