When Rob got home from the funeral, his older son, Mike, was waiting for him. “You don’t look too good, Dad. You OK?”
“Not exactly. It’s been a rough day.”
“Yeah, really.”
“Marianne was my life—the future I’d hoped for. But, she’s gone, and all the plans we’d made were buried with her.” Rob’s eyes blurred for a moment. “I hurt, Mike. Hard not to show it.”
“She was nice and would’ve been good for you.”
“We’d have had a very solid marriage, but much as I wanted all the pieces to fit together, I’ve thought for quite a while now that our dream wasn’t going to happen. When you went with me, you saw how much she’d changed. Marianne was healthy and full of life, so having to watch her waste away was heartbreaking. And these last four days have been especially tough to handle.”
Mike agreed. “I know.”
“But life goes on and I’ve got other dragons to fight. Not the least of them is to find a job. So far, there hasn’t been much interest in somebody with my experience. It doesn’t help that I have a crummy attitude. I need time, which I really don’t have, to start getting myself straightened out.”
Not knowing what to say, Mike changed the subject. “You had two calls. One was from Greg a few minutes ago. He wanted us to know that he got to camp OK on Monday. Says he loves it up there and thinks he’ll have a good summer. The other one was from Kim. She’s stopping by for a little while after she gets off work. Said she wants to check up on you. She’s being a real good friend.”
“She is, but her feelings run deeper than that.”
“If she likes you, that’s good isn’t it? I think you need somebody like her now.”
“It’ll be a while before I can meet her half way. It’s never easy getting used to the idea that death is forever. But when it takes the most important woman in your life, someone you’ve been close to for more than three years, you feel pain all over. Marianne doesn’t have any now. It’s those of us she’s left behind who do. I’ll eventually get on top of mine, but there isn’t any way I’ll ever forget her and what we meant to each other. What’s certain is that the pages that will someday tell my story have been rewritten, so maybe it’s Kim, maybe it isn’t. For sure, I’m not getting any younger, and without a job I don’t have much to offer.”
Before Mike could say anything other than, “You’ll be OK,” Kim was at their door.
“Hi, guy. You probably know it already, but I have to say it. You look terrible.” Having called a spade a spade, she gave him a hug and held on. It was something Rob Grant badly needed.
“You buried your mother not too long ago, so you know what’s going on inside. Marianne wasn’t a wife, or a blood relative, but she mattered. You know how much. But enough. She’s gone, so what I have to do now is begin the long process of burying her memories, too. You’re here. She isn’t. I’ll do my best not to be an eternal drag on the positive things we have going for us.”
