The registration desk can’t help me.
They tell me to take a seat.
So, I sit, and I stare at the wall until Melody comes to get me. Somehow she knew where I would go, but I’m not sure how.
Now I’m in my kitchen, drinking a glass of water so that I can flush the thoughts from my mind.
“Brett,” Melody says. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
I’m not okay. I shouldn’t be okay. I killed people. I squeeze the glass in my hand until it breaks, feeling the shards slice across my palm. It was an accident.
I look up at the terror in Melody’s eyes. “I didn’t mean—”
She remains calm, though I can see the thoughts running through her beautiful eyes. She leaps at me with a towel and takes the glass carefully from my hand, then wraps the towel around the laceration. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
“I should have just stayed there. I’m being punished.”
“Brett, don’t talk like that.”
“I didn’t mean to break the glass.”
“I know. It was an accident,” she says.
“What about the kids?”
“I’m going to go put them in the car and take them to my mom’s. Sit down on this stool until I come back for you,” she says, pulling the stool out from beneath the kitchen island.”
“It’s okay.”
I watch Melody escort the kids out of the house, doing all she can so they don’t see their wreck of a father sitting in the kitchen with blood pooling out of his hand. “What’s wrong with Dad?” Parker asks.
“He just needs a couple of stitches. You know how Dad’s a big baby when it comes to blood, right?” Melody says.
“Yeah, he’s the biggest baby I’ve ever met,” Parker replies.
Melody is stronger than me.
I need her more than she needs me.
She’s my hero—the real kind of hero.
Melody races back inside and wraps her hands around the towel. “Ready?”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“For what?”
“Today.”
Melody places her hand on my cheek. “It’s just another day. There’s always tomorrow.”
“It’s never going to stop,” I tell her.
“And if it doesn’t … I will get really good at picking you up when you fall.”
“How are you so strong?” I ask her, standing from the stool.
“Eh, I pushed out a ten-pounder. You can take the blame for that, okay?”
