Kristy slowly turned and walked away from the darkened window. She couldn’t help herself from looking out and waiting for the headlights in the driveway, but she couldn’t just do that all night. She made her way to Jenny’s room.


    “Honey, would you like me to read The Lonely Monster to you?” Kristy said from the door of Jenny’s room. She needed some kind of distraction and hoped Jenny would take her up on the offer for once.


    “No, Daddy reads it better. I wanna wait for him.” Jenny said from her bed with absolute certainty and crossed her arms over the book in a protective hug.


    It was hard to argue with determination like that. Kristy felt her heart tug in multiple directions, but kept it to herself.


    “Alright, sweety,” Kristy said, “Do you need anything before I turn the lights off?”


    “But Daddy was supposed to be home already. Can I pleeease stay up and wait for him? Please Mom?”


    ”I’ve already let you stay up far past your bedtime, though.”


    ”But, please? Daddy’s gonna come home soon, I know it. What if I miss him? Five more minutes, I promise.”


    “I know he was supposed to be home yesterday sweety but,” Kristy looked back to the front door and the window where there were still no headlights. She was internally dying of worry. After he hadn’t come back yesterday, she had started by assuming the worst, then resorted to denial, and finally circled back to assuming the worst over and over again in an endless loop of torturous worry. She couldn’t let Jenny know how worried she was though. That wasn’t right, so she wore a small, plastic smile and the bravest face she could muster and did something every parent cringes from having to do. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    “I think he might have gotten an offer to work for longer.” Kristy lied to Jenny.


    “Noooo,” Jenny said in a whining devastation that Kristy internally harmonized with. “He was supposed to read to me. It’s been forever. It’s been two forevers!”


    “Are you sure you don’t want Mommy to read the book to you just this once? I promise I’ll do the voices like Daddy does.”


    Jenny sniffled and loosened her grip on the book. “You promise?”


    Kristy walked slowly into the room, sat on the side of the bed and reached her hand toward Jenny with the pinky outstretched. “I pinky-promise.”


    Jenny stretched out her hand and took Kristy’s pinky with her own. Her other arm released the stranglehold she had on the book. “Can we go bug catching tomorrow too?”


    “Uh,” Kristy shuddered at the thought of all the bugs. She didn’t understand why Jenny was so obsessed with them. She looked back at the blanket covered cages in Jenny’s closet and shuddered again. At least she didn’t have to look at the damn things since Jenny was actually good at taking care of them, “Um, sure honey. We can go later in the afternoon when it cools down.”


    ”Yay!” Jenny said while handing Kristy the book. “You can read to me now.”


    Kristy cracked open the book and caught a whiff of Collin’s scent. Of course the book smelled like him, because why wouldn’t it? It was like some sick prank that every little thing reminded her of him. Despite her best efforts to tell herself that Collin was still coming back, it did nothing to drive away the sense of loss she felt in the pit of her stomach. She wiped the moisture from the corner of her eyes, looked off in the direction of the driveway one last time, and pushed herself to focus on doing a good job at reading the story for Jenny.