Page 27 of Missed Sunrise
Or maybe they wouldn’t be.
A snore so loud that I was shocked the floor didn’t shake brought me back to reality—and back to the man I was so thankful was well enough to rest and whole enough to laugh.
I padded to the basket beside the couch and relieved it of Dad’s favorite blanket.
It was a screen-printed, oversized fleece that Bree and I had designed and ordered for him this past Christmas. It featured a few photos from the year and a bunch of doodles of Dad’s favorite things with text I’d written in the middle that read:
Monny’s Dream Blanket
I tucked it over his large form before softly guiding him to lie on his side. He sighed and pulled it up to his chin and mumbled an approximation of a thanks followed by a declaration of love.
“Love you too,” I whispered, taking a moment to smile at his sleeping form.
I let myself out the door and locked him securely inside.
Things could have been so different, indeed.
7
Cody
I stoodin line at 7th Street Coffee and scowled at the foggy glass prison of pastries.
There were many things I didn’t understand, but two were really bothering me in this moment.
The first was how Bree and I had managed to completely overlook this town during our handful of adult years spent trying to make a life for ourselves on the casino drag that lit the coast just a few miles away.
The second was why preparing to order this frappe was giving me the nervous sweats.
Pulling my ratty tank top away from my body and hoping some forced circulation would help the situation, I stepped up and placed my order with the teenaged girl behind the counter.
Without looking away from her ordering screen, she asked, “Want whipped cream?”
I lost my breath.
My feet were buried in sand, and my head was somehow underwater.
Sunlight blinded my vision.
Muzak played on cue and lingered in the background.
“Do you want a frappe?”the strange, happy redheaded girl asked me.
Her drink was almost empty, and I stared at it, feeling like I was hungrier than I had ever been, though I knew that wasn’t true.
“Do they have whipped cream?” I asked her, stepping closer. I’d never wanted anything more than I wanted that drink, even if it meant spending the day with a stranger in a strange place.
“Sir?”
My head snapped up abruptly, and the fog of memory cleared as I met a startled blue-eyed gaze.
She reared back slightly with a muttered “Oh shit.”
I moved my gaze to the antique mirror that lined the wall behind the counter, and… yeah.
Anyone would recoil from that expression. I looked fucking deranged.
My new haircut made my features more severe, especially with my dark, furrowed eyebrows and the deep frown lines etched around my mouth.
