“Yeah. It’s… I don’t know. I’ve had it here because you haven’t had storage space and I needed one anyway, but now….” He winced at the thought of getting rid of the memories he’d carried for so long.
Faye came closer and wrapped her arms around him, surrounding him with her tea tree and patchouli scent. “We can figure this out. I know it hasn’t been that long since Mom passed, but this needs to be sorted out further. I know we did what we could at the apartment, but I also think we held onto too many things still.”
“Over four years,” Francis said quietly.
“What?”
“It’s been more than four years, Faye. It’s not like it happened last month.”
“There’s no schedule for this stuff, until there is,” she said in a peaceful tone that made Francis chuckle. “Oh, come on.” She shoved him and stepped into the storage unit.
There were things Francis had forgotten about and a few he didn’t recognize at all. Those were the kind of things that he wasn’t going to keep. They started by making a keep pile that would move with Francis, a spot for stuff Faye would take home, and two more for things they’d donate or trash.
Three hours later the job was almost done. Because there were pieces some of Francis’s local friends might like—like tons of yarn from their mother’s brief foray into knitting—he called them, and with a few extra pairs of hands, the rest was easy.
As Francis watched Minnie and her girlfriend Zinnia load up the yarn and some clothing Zinnia could use at the high school where she taught drama, he couldn’t help but to feel wistful.
“Hey Francis, are you going to take any of the exercise equipment?” Jack asked from the front of the almost empty unit.
“No, go ahead and do whatever you want with it.” He hadn’t used the rowing machine or the weights in years anyway. They’d been a purchase he’d made after a break-up more than six years ago. The guy hadn’t been worth the heartbreak or the way Francis had punished his body afterwards. At least that had lasted only a few weeks.
“You sure? I know you got these after what’s-his-name?”
“We do not speak that name out loud,” Rita, Jack’s wife, pushed past him and came to hug Francis. “How you holding up, honey?”
“I’m fine. Honestly. It feels good to get rid of these things.”
“I’ll need someone to carry the rower with me in a bit,” Jack called to them as he turned away from the mushy stuff.
“He’s such a guy.” Francis chuckled.
“Oh yeah. At least he’s grown out of the frat boy phase.”
Francis groaned. “I remember that!”
He’d met Rita when they were working at the same hospital. She was a neonatal nurse and he’d been at the ER. They’d met Jack while Francis had been cleaning up his cuts and scrapes after he’d taken a dive off a balcony at his frat house. Rita had come by to ask Francis if he’d had a break yet, and Jack had taken one look at her and… well, once he’d sobered up, she’d agreed to go on a date with her despite the fifteen-year age difference. The rest was history.
To think that Francis had let Josh drive the couple away still horrified him and made him mad in equal measure.
“He’s been moaning about gaining weight though, so maybe the machine will help,” she mused out loud.
Francis grinned. “Put it in front of the TV and put a game on?”
“There’s a game?” Jack asked, perking up visibly as he passed them, carrying some of the weights to his and Rita’s car.
“Eventually, there’s always a game, sweetie,” Rita said sagely.
Francis burst out laughing, and Jack seemed confused, but continued on his way.
Francis had missed them so much, and now he was leaving. It was as if Rita could read his mind.
“It’s okay. Eventually, you’ll come visit. Or hell, maybe we’ll rent a cabin in your neck of the woods in the summer. We’ll stay in touch somehow. I promise.” She squeezed him tightly.
Two hours later the unit was empty and everyone headed off with their loot. Minnie and Zinnia promised to take the donations onwards, because they had good connections to different organizations in the area, due to some volunteer work.
Jack and Rita were taking the recyclables and the trash, since they lived near a collection site and could drop it all off easily.
Francis and Faye packed their boxes into Francis’s small car and headed to his place. In the end, there were fewer boxes he would’ve thought.
