Page 22 of Dreams
There was a longer video that Taylor’s Dad had pieced together from some of the short ones she had. It played at his funeral. Danny’s face appeared on the screen, a familiar foolish grin on his face.
“My name is Danny,” he said. “And I am an addict.” He was standing outside in a field near Taylor’s house. When the weather was nice, they’d spend a lot of time together out there. The camera panned towards Taylor’s sleeping figure as she sprawled across one of their blankets. She was his addiction.
The image changed to a clip of Danny with a few of his teammates as they sang at the top of their lungs, arms slung over each other’s shoulders. There was highlight reel stuff, some of Danny’s best moves on the ice.
Then it was back to just Danny and Taylor. He had a guitar in his lap. Closing his eyes as he sang, his voice was sweet. Taylor sat next to him and held the camera out to get both of them in the shot. He stopped singing long enough to kiss her.
“Maybe you should be a singer instead of a hockey player,” she told him.
“Babe, why can’t I do it all?” He looked into the camera one last time and winked.
The video ended, and Taylor pushed the computer off her lap so she could pull her knees up to her chest. Tears rolled down her face as she buried it in her arms. She wanted more than anything to stop this feeling. She wanted to be able to move on, but every time she tried it struck her. He was still gone. She was still left behind.
Maybe if he had wanted to be a singer, he’d still be with her.
Taylor wiped her face on her sleeve and grabbed her phone from where she had it drying near her bed. The rain hadn’t spared it, so she was hoping it could be saved. Popping the battery back into place, she powered it up and was relieved when the screen lit up.
She had two missed calls and a text from Josh. He was worried about her, wanting to make sure she got home. She sent him a text that just saidI’m OK.
Her family had tried everything over the last year to get her to smile or to cry or to just feel something. Josh had done it in one night. Taylor didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t know if it could mean anything. Not when she still loved Danny with everything she had.
