Chapter 1
Baby's just a little bit tired of the city,
Billboards and bullshit got her down.
You seem like you need a little hell country,
a little back roads drivin', a little bit of that old top
down.
Yeah everybody's gotta getaway sometime,
Forget about life for awhile...
I danced through my kitchen swinging
the mop back and forth along the tiled floor as I sang along to Pat Green at
the top of my lungs. I felt good today and it felt really good to dance and
sing and be "Crazy" for a few minutes of my jam packed day. I held
the mop like a microphone and sang into the end of it. I was having a blast.
"Well, well!" I heard a
voice from behind me cackle as I spun around quickly to find my cousin Kevin
standing in the doorway holding a huge box and laughing hysterically at me,
"Now I guess we know what you do when you're home alone! If my arms
weren't full I'd applaud."
I slid in my socked feet across the
freshly mopped floor and hit the pause button on the CD player before grabbing
the dish towel from the sink and chucking it across the room at Kevin's head.
He ducked quickly out of the way and went to set the box on the dining room
table.
"Kel and Joey should be here in a
few minutes with the last load of boxes," he said stooping down to
retrieve the towel from the floor where it had landed. He looked over at me with
a grin before using it to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Well then,
that came in handy."
"Nice."
"I try." He winked and then
looked around the room with a puzzled expression, "By the way, where's my
wife?"
"She's putting Mason down in the
guest room and if she's smart she'll stay in there with him and take a nap
herself... I may go join him here shortly. Lemonade?" I asked handing him
a glass and stifling a yawn.
He gladly accepted and pulled a chair
up to the counter to sit down beside me.
"How are you feeling today? You
look really good." He said after studying me for a few moments.
That was a question I'd grown used to
answering. It was asked at least 15 times a day and though I grew tired of it,
I knew it was asked out of genuine concern and so I mostly tried to answer it
honestly.
"I'm feeling pretty good today
actually, a little bit tired, but good on the whole. Only two more rounds of
chemo left to go and then at least that will be one less thing to deal
with." I was excited and it showed.
"That's awesome darling! We're
going to have to throw you a huge party you know... a house warming, wedding
showering, congratulations you're free of those damned meds party!" Kevin
put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the cheek before he
grabbed both of our empty glasses and placed them into the sink.
"That would definitely be
fun," I replied. "I would love to spend some time with everyone...
you know... just in case."
The killjoy. Kevin looked at me and
nodded knowingly. I hated to be the killjoy and so I changed the subject
quickly.
"Nick's so gonna want to strangle
me when he gets home. He has so much waiting for him to do." I said
motioning around the house at all of the unpacked boxes stacked in various
corners. "God knows I'm not unpacking any of his things until he gets
back."
"I don't blame you. He can be
picky as hell when it comes to his personal belongings. When are they getting
back anyway?"
I pointed over to the calender hanging
on the fridge. It was completely marked with red X's, one on each day that Nick
had been gone and a huge circle on the day he'd be coming home.
"Two more weeks," I said
with a smile... "Just two more weeks."
***
