Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle

Author:Kate Carlisle [Carlisle, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-12-06T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

* * *

Mac and I spent a quiet evening watching an old movie surrounded by our sweet little critters. We made a big healthy salad for dinner with veggies from the garden, which I’d been cultivating ever since I was seventeen and needed a hobby. Mac did his part by grilling chicken breasts and cutting one of them up for the salad.

I had come home earlier and gone straight to my office to work out a budget for Vince. I’d made a list of supplies and equipment we’d need. After that, I’d given Wade and Carla a call to let them know about the additional job we’d be doing for the center. Once that phone call was finished, I shut down my work brain and settled in with Mac and the little ones.

My heart still ached when I thought about last night’s discovery of Linda’s body on the beach. Every time I saw that image in my mind, I wanted to cry. And yet I’d been able to come home and work on numbers and dates and talk to my foremen as though nothing had changed in my world. I had been compartmentalizing my thoughts all day. Work had helped keep the pain at bay. The new project in the community center helped. But now, faced with the reality of Linda’s death, I just wanted to curl up and rock myself to sleep.

Mac patted my back, then walked into the kitchen as a local commercial came on, touting a hardware superstore’s huge sale. “Our huge selection of tile work! Backsplashes! Kitchen and bathroom floors! Peel and stick! Accents and trims! Prices slashed through Sunday!”

“Oh no,” I whispered, and burst into tears. I couldn’t stop. Why did it have to be a commercial for tile work? For backsplashes? Of all things! As inane as the subject matter was, it reminded me of Linda and I continued to sob quietly.

Robbie seemed to feel my pain and cuddled up on my lap. Both cats moved to either side of me on the couch and gave me little headbutts to show they cared.

The unconditional love of animals was a true miracle, I thought.

Mac returned with a bottle of beer and noticed that I had lost it. “Hey, hey. Come here.” He picked up Luke and sat down next to me with the cat in his lap. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He pulled me close to him and simply rocked me as if I were a baby, and he whispered sweet, loving words that made me cry even harder.

After a few minutes, I took a few long, slow breaths in and out. I felt waterlogged. “I’m sorry. It just hit me hard.”

“Don’t be sorry. She was a good friend and a good person.”

“Honestly, I barely knew her, but I felt like we connected. You know?”

“I do, love. Once in a great while, a person touches your life, and you’re irrevocably changed for the better.”

I sniffled. “I hate that someone hurt her.”

“I do, too.”

We held on to each other through the next inning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.