AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He might not be one for smoothies, but she was.
Prying off the top on the glass canister on the counter, he counted out precisely four mini muffins and slipped them into a baggie. She never ate three. Never ate five. Always precisely four.
She did everything that way, so he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised she wouldn’t just tell him to store his boxers in drawer number five. She planned everything to the nth degree.
Truth be told, he could probably stand to do some more planning himself.
He turned off the blender, lifting a brow at the consistency of the drink inside. Hmm. Maybe he’d pureed it too long or something. He took out her tumbler and poured the goop inside, slapped on the lid, and set her drink and muffins by the purse on the counter. Then he grabbed his composition notebook and stubby pencil and sat down with his bowl of cereal and milk, heavy on the cereal. Soggy flakes were the worst, so he added milk as he moved through the layers rather than all at once.
He flipped open to the back of the notebook, the same one he’d been toting around since high school. He had others, but this was his favorite. Small handwriting meant he’d been able to fit hundreds of songs in this battered old thing. His latest one had come to him in the shower last night, and he’d scribbled down a few lines before he’d headed over to Lila’s for a late dinner. His father had been on his mind a lot lately, though he hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks. He’d gone back home against all odds, and Ricki had gone with him. She refused to leave him alone, in spite of the nurse Nick had hired to help with his care.
His sister was all of the dutiful that Nick wasn’t, though that wasn’t so much from lack of interest as lack of ability to face a man who hated him day in and day out.
Seeing him a couple of times a month was bad enough, and that was more for Ricki’s sake than for his old man’s.
Nick reread the lyrics he’d scribbled last night.
“Grieving Before You’re Gone.”
I look at your face and a shell with mirrored eyes remains
Not the man I knew who tossed me a ball
Or made me eggs, over hard
I liked them that way
Just a skeleton with holes left behind
Holes I don’t want to find
Because they’re in me too
You’re in me too
You’re in me too
Deeper, darker, my shadow self inside
The one who needs too much
Who hurts too well
Who blames everyone else
But himself
Grieving before you’re gone
Losing you day by day
Within myself, I feel you slipping
Feel me slipping
“You made me breakfast?”
Her breathless voice dragged him out of the song and he blinked owlishly, barely aware of where he was. “What?”
