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Malachi had loved sweet tea. The sweeter the better.
When had that changed?
“And are y’all ready to order?” the waitress asked.
I held up my hand. “I am.”
She moved closer to me, farther away from Riel, and stared at me as she studiously avoided
making eye contact with the man at my side.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
But gave my order anyway.
“I’ll have a steak smothered in onions and mushrooms, a loaded baked potato, extra butter and
sour cream. Go ahead and give me extra cheese, too, just in case.” I took a deep breath and continued my order. “I want a side of macaroni and cheese, a side salad with extra boiled eggs, and a sidekick of grilled shrimp.”
There was a long, silent pause as everyone at the table digested what I’d just ordered for dinner.
“That’s quite a bit of food,” the woman on the opposite end of the table said. “Where do you put it all?”
I shrugged.
“This is my first meal today,” I admitted. “I was at the hospital from about six this morning until just now. I think I might’ve gotten one single candy bar in. And it wasn’t even one I liked.”
“What kind of candy bar?” the man directly across from her asked.
I opened my mouth to say ‘Not a Three Musketeers’ when Riel beat me to it.
“It couldn’t have been a Three Musketeers or a Crunch bar. She hates everything else,” Riel
offered up.
Then he frowned ferociously, looking at me with wide eyes.
“You remembered.” I smiled.
I also felt sad.
Because there were a lot of more important things he should be remembering.
Like what had happened to Luca.
Instead, he remembered the one and only time that I was ever around him when he would’ve had
the chance to learn something like that. A stray Halloween where I’d sent Luca all my Halloween
candy that I hadn’t liked eating. There’d been no fun-sized Crunch bars or Three Musketeers in it,
because I had eaten them all.
I swallowed the bile that threatened to move farther up my esophagus.
Then I shoved all those feelings aside, put them into a tiny little box, and duct-taped that bitch
closed.
