AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He tousled her hair before walking out of the room.
“Hey, where are you going?” she called after him.
“To watch TV,” he called back.
“Why is nobody having a family breakfast today?” her tiny voice asked.
“Why don’t we play a game?” I suggested.
“What kind of game?”
“When my mom moved away, I was really sad for a while. I would sit at the table for dinner, and stare at her empty seat where she always used to sit. One night, my dad sat down with me and asked me what I would want to talk to her about if she was there. I came up with all these different conversations that we could have. It was fun, and it helped me not to miss her so much. Do you think you would want to try that?”
Her eyes lit up. “Let’s pretend both of our dads are here!”
“Okay. What would you say first?”
“I would say, Hi Mister – wait, what’s your dad’s name?”
Chase stifled a laugh.
“Robert. His friends all called him Rob.”
“Okay. Hi Mister Rob. I’m Khloe. This is my brother, Chase.” She looked at Chase, clearly waiting for him to introduce himself.
“Oh. Sorry. Hi, sir. I’m Chase.”
It was my turn to stifle a laugh.
“What is it like up in Heaven?” she asked her next bold question.
We all waited in silence.
“He said it’s beautiful,” Khloe reported. “Everything is white and puffy in the clouds, and there’s always music playing.”
“Sounds awesome,” I replied. “Did he say if he’s hanging out with your dad a lot?”
“Daddy is right there.” She pointed to his seat at the table. “He says they play poker and go bowling together.”
I noticed Chase kept glancing at the doorway. I stood and began making a small plate of food for Beverly. I slipped out while Khloe was in deep conversation with her father. Upstairs, Beverly’s door was closed. I imagined last night was extremely difficult, as it was the first night without her husband. I took a deep breath before knocking lightly on the door.
“Beverly? It’s Merritt. I brought some breakfast up for you, if you’re hungry.”
I listened for a moment, and cracked the door open when I didn’t hear a response. When I looked inside, I saw tissues strewn about the floor, much like the pile Chase had in his room the day before. Beverly, awake, was sitting up in bed with red eyes.
“Oh, Beverly.” I closed the door behind me and set her plate down on her nightstand.
“Every time I tell myself that I’m going to stop crying, more tears keep pouring out.” She wiped her nose with a tissue. “Do your tear ducts ever run dry?”
I sat on the bed next to her and shook my head. “No. I’m afraid they don’t.”
She looked down at the plate of food. “You’re so good, Merritt. Thank you so much for taking care of us through all this. I don’t know what I’d do without you here.” Tears streamed down her cheeks again. “Tim and I were partners. I always thought we would have each other.”
I let a tear escape my eye. “I’m so sorry. I know how badly it sucks – it’s like you had this whole vision of what life would be like, and now you have to start from scratch and figure out how you’re going to go on with your life in this new way.”
She nodded feverishly. “Exactly. Everything was going just fine – then the cancer ruined everything. It wasn’t supposed to be like this! We had a plan.”
I hugged her as she sobbed. “I know. We make all these plans, and for what? Life takes us for its own ride.” I handed her another tissue.
