Fuck all of that bullshit.
Savannah was back for the money. And she needed me to sign divorce papers in order to get it. Therefore, the power was in my hands. When I finally got everything I wanted from her and was able to extinguish her from my memory, I would grant her that fucking signature and say good riddance.
The rest of the house was semi-dark as I passed from the kitchen into the living room. The television had been left on and I would’ve bet that Aiden had forgotten to turn it off. I felt something like a smile break out on my face.
The kid wasn’t too bad. He had a lot of energy, which I remembered having at nine years old, as well. Savannah was constantly reminding him not to run in the house.
I shut the television off and started to head upstairs toward my bedroom, but my foot caught on something and I bumped my leg into the coffee table.
“Shit,” I grunted as I bent to rub my shin. I kicked whatever I’d tripped over and realized it was another cardboard box.
It was Savannah’s, of course. She’d moved a bunch of her belongings into storage but a few boxes lingered around the living room. If I remembered correctly, this particular box had the wordsPersonal. Not For Storagewritten on it in black marker.
Since it was dark in the living room with the TV off, I couldn’t see clearly.
“Dammit.” Some of the contents from the box had spilled out when I knocked it over.
I pulled out my cell phone and turned on the flashlight app to see what the hell I was doing. I grabbed an old sweater and stuffed it back in the box, followed by a framed picture. My heart damn near stopped when I shined my light on the picture.
The image was of a young couple smiling at one another as they stood, face to face, underneath a huge oak tree. It was us, Savannah and me, on the day we got married.
She wore a long white dress with a crown of sunflowers around her head, while I was dressed in a black tux that Micah loaned me. The backdrop of Tucker Bridge peeked out overhead.
It was the spot where we first met. Down by Gaines River. That was where we got married, in a gazebo constructed not too far from the area.
My mother was the one who took the picture.
I could barely bring myself to look at the beaming smiles on our faces. We appeared as if we had the whole world laid at our feet.
Instead of continuing to look, I threw the picture into the box and went to pick up the next item, a small, silver chain. Attached to it was a heart-shaped, sterling silver locket. The first gift I’d ever given Savannah.
I opened the locket, and an unfamiliar sound came out of my mouth. On one side was a picture of a woman in her mid-twenties. She was young but I knew her face.
It was Savannah’s mother. The picture of her that she always kept with her. But it was the image on the right side of the locket that caused a fury to well up in me. A small infant cradled in a light blue blanket.
He appeared to be asleep, but I knew he wasn’t.
“AJ.”
This was a picture of our son. The hospital staff took this photo of him nestled in a blanket after he was born. It was for us to have something to remember him by, but how the hell could I forget my own son? I adamantly refused the picture. I knew he wasn’t asleep in it.
He was dead. Never to open his eyes.
Savannah had kept it.
Anger propelled me to my feet and I stormed up the stairs with the locket in my hand.
I pushed through the bedroom door, closing it behind me and cut on the light.
“Why the hell would you leave this laying around for me to find?” I barked.
Savannah sat up in the bed with wide eyes, looking around. “What-what’s happening? Aiden?” she called, sounding distressed.
I didn’t let her fear or whatever innocent image she was attempting to portray persuade me.
“Aiden’s fine. Why did you leave this laying out?” I demanded, holding the locket up.
She blinked, reorienting herself, then stared at the locket.
