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rainbowfic2016-05-17 09:29 pm
kay_brooke) wrote in rainbowfic2016-05-17 09:29 pm
Cherry Blossom Pink #4, Plant Party #41, Wet Concrete #5
Name: kay_brooke
Story: Unusual Florida
Colors: Cherry Blossom Pink #4 (Wabi-sabi), Plant Party #41 (Ficus sycomorus), Wet Concrete #5 (The most important part of your body is the one that currently hurts.)
Styles/Supplies: Canvas, Seed Beads
Word Count: 1,083
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: Megan and Tom have a problem.
Note: Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM.
Tom was sitting dejectedly on the couch when she returned from putting Cassie down for a nap, and she could tell from the look on his face that he was upset about something.
Megan was certain she already knew what it was, so she sighed and sat next to him on the couch, her hand immediately going to the armrest, fingers tapping against the soft material. Tom didn’t say anything for several moments. The only sound was the muffled tapping from her fingers.
“Have you tried talking to him?” Tom finally said, not looking at her. His gaze was firmly fixed on the blank, silent TV screen.
“Have you?” asked Megan, annoyed with the question. Tom knew she had tried. She had tried more than once, more than twice, more than a dozen times. Tom had left her to it, like it had nothing to do with him, and now he presumed to come to her with information she was already well aware of.
“He won’t talk to me.”
“Now you know my life,” said Megan.
He looked at her then. “We can’t do this.”
“What choice do we have?” Megan realized she was getting a little loud, so she lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was Cassie waking up and wandering out to overhear their conversation. “He’s in no shape to take care of those kids, and we can’t make them leave. Where else would they go?”
“I don’t mean that,” said Tom with a sigh. “I mean this.” He indicated the space Megan had deliberately left between them, the length of one couch cushion, the distance small but pointedly yawning all the same. “We’ve had more arguments since they’ve come then we have since we got married. We’re letting them tear us apart.”
Megan’s fingers tapped. “You’re right,” she said, biting back her first irritated response. This was no time to start another argument. “But I don’t know what to do.”
“He needs help.” Tom glanced toward the basement stairs. At the bottom of them, in a little room that had once been used for Tom and his friends to watch football together but was now an impromptu bedroom, Megan’s brother-in-law slept. At least she assumed he was sleeping. That was about all he did.
“He needs time,” Megan countered.
Tom just looked at her sadly. “I believed you at first. I thought, why not? It made sense that he needed to take a few days to pull himself back together. I was glad to help. I was glad to watch the kids while he dealt with his grief. But Megan,” he leaned over and grabbed her hand, “he’s not getting better. At least when he got here he went for walks and had meals with the rest of us. But it’s been a month and I don’t think I’ve seen him upstairs in at least a week.”
Megan nodded. She’d had to start taking food down to the basement just to make sure he ate, and when she went to collect the dirty dishes there would only ever be a few bites gone. She’d asked him to come to dinner. She’d asked him to go out shopping with her, thinking getting out of the house might help. She’d asked him to just come upstairs and watch TV with them at night. And every time he refused, shaking his head and pulling the bed covers closer, turning away from her.
Those were the times she asked. Most of the time she didn’t ask, because when she went down there he was either asleep or crying.
“I know he’s in mourning,” Tom continued, “but so are his children. So are you.”
Tears sprang up in Megan’s eyes. It had been long enough that she wasn’t waking up every morning sobbing for her lost sister, but reminders still came too easily, and the tears followed.
Tom gently wiped them away. “This isn’t fair to you, not just because you never asked to become a mother to your sister’s children. Why does he get to fall apart and shut out the world while you have to take care of everything? Why aren’t you allowed to mourn?”
“I have you,” said Megan, and god, she had been so awful lately, irritable and angry, snapping at him for every little thing, provoking argument after argument. “If I lost you, I would be worse off than Kevin.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
“I wouldn’t want that.”
Megan wiped her face. “I’m sure my sister would have said the same to Kevin. But look at him.”
Tom glanced up toward the ceiling. “I don’t see a good solution to this.”
“We give him time,” said Megan firmly. “We’ll be more insistent about making him come out of the basement. He’ll get better, I know he will.”
“If he doesn’t?”
“I don’t know,” said Megan truthfully. “All we can do right now is hope that he does.”
Tom nodded, reluctant, but she knew he had no better ideas. They had to be responsible for the children, and they couldn’t just kick them back out the door with no one but the shattered wreck of their father to take care of them. They were all too young; Cassie wasn’t even school age yet.
As if he knew her thoughts, he said, “What about school?”
She hadn’t given much thought to school. She didn’t think her sister’s family would all still be at her house when autumn came. But it was already late July, and though she wasn’t sure exactly when the school year started in Millinocket, she had the impression it was within the next month. “I suppose we could enroll them at the public school.”
“I suppose,” said Tom. “Or boarding schools?”
“Absolutely not.” Her sister had been a wealthy, busy professional, and so perhaps a likely candidate for the type to ship her kids off to such a place, but Megan knew she had been adamantly against it. Karen had tried for years to have kids, suffered more heartbreak than any woman should have to bear, and once she had what she wanted she wasn’t going to send them away from her. “She would have never wanted that. She wanted them to grow up with a proper family. So that’s what we’ll have to be, for as long as it takes.”
“Okay,” said Tom. She knew he still had doubts. So did she.
But what else could they do?
kay_brookeStory: Unusual Florida
Colors: Cherry Blossom Pink #4 (Wabi-sabi), Plant Party #41 (Ficus sycomorus), Wet Concrete #5 (The most important part of your body is the one that currently hurts.)
Styles/Supplies: Canvas, Seed Beads
Word Count: 1,083
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply
Summary: Megan and Tom have a problem.
Note: Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM.
Tom was sitting dejectedly on the couch when she returned from putting Cassie down for a nap, and she could tell from the look on his face that he was upset about something.
Megan was certain she already knew what it was, so she sighed and sat next to him on the couch, her hand immediately going to the armrest, fingers tapping against the soft material. Tom didn’t say anything for several moments. The only sound was the muffled tapping from her fingers.
“Have you tried talking to him?” Tom finally said, not looking at her. His gaze was firmly fixed on the blank, silent TV screen.
“Have you?” asked Megan, annoyed with the question. Tom knew she had tried. She had tried more than once, more than twice, more than a dozen times. Tom had left her to it, like it had nothing to do with him, and now he presumed to come to her with information she was already well aware of.
“He won’t talk to me.”
“Now you know my life,” said Megan.
He looked at her then. “We can’t do this.”
“What choice do we have?” Megan realized she was getting a little loud, so she lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was Cassie waking up and wandering out to overhear their conversation. “He’s in no shape to take care of those kids, and we can’t make them leave. Where else would they go?”
“I don’t mean that,” said Tom with a sigh. “I mean this.” He indicated the space Megan had deliberately left between them, the length of one couch cushion, the distance small but pointedly yawning all the same. “We’ve had more arguments since they’ve come then we have since we got married. We’re letting them tear us apart.”
Megan’s fingers tapped. “You’re right,” she said, biting back her first irritated response. This was no time to start another argument. “But I don’t know what to do.”
“He needs help.” Tom glanced toward the basement stairs. At the bottom of them, in a little room that had once been used for Tom and his friends to watch football together but was now an impromptu bedroom, Megan’s brother-in-law slept. At least she assumed he was sleeping. That was about all he did.
“He needs time,” Megan countered.
Tom just looked at her sadly. “I believed you at first. I thought, why not? It made sense that he needed to take a few days to pull himself back together. I was glad to help. I was glad to watch the kids while he dealt with his grief. But Megan,” he leaned over and grabbed her hand, “he’s not getting better. At least when he got here he went for walks and had meals with the rest of us. But it’s been a month and I don’t think I’ve seen him upstairs in at least a week.”
Megan nodded. She’d had to start taking food down to the basement just to make sure he ate, and when she went to collect the dirty dishes there would only ever be a few bites gone. She’d asked him to come to dinner. She’d asked him to go out shopping with her, thinking getting out of the house might help. She’d asked him to just come upstairs and watch TV with them at night. And every time he refused, shaking his head and pulling the bed covers closer, turning away from her.
Those were the times she asked. Most of the time she didn’t ask, because when she went down there he was either asleep or crying.
“I know he’s in mourning,” Tom continued, “but so are his children. So are you.”
Tears sprang up in Megan’s eyes. It had been long enough that she wasn’t waking up every morning sobbing for her lost sister, but reminders still came too easily, and the tears followed.
Tom gently wiped them away. “This isn’t fair to you, not just because you never asked to become a mother to your sister’s children. Why does he get to fall apart and shut out the world while you have to take care of everything? Why aren’t you allowed to mourn?”
“I have you,” said Megan, and god, she had been so awful lately, irritable and angry, snapping at him for every little thing, provoking argument after argument. “If I lost you, I would be worse off than Kevin.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
“I wouldn’t want that.”
Megan wiped her face. “I’m sure my sister would have said the same to Kevin. But look at him.”
Tom glanced up toward the ceiling. “I don’t see a good solution to this.”
“We give him time,” said Megan firmly. “We’ll be more insistent about making him come out of the basement. He’ll get better, I know he will.”
“If he doesn’t?”
“I don’t know,” said Megan truthfully. “All we can do right now is hope that he does.”
Tom nodded, reluctant, but she knew he had no better ideas. They had to be responsible for the children, and they couldn’t just kick them back out the door with no one but the shattered wreck of their father to take care of them. They were all too young; Cassie wasn’t even school age yet.
As if he knew her thoughts, he said, “What about school?”
She hadn’t given much thought to school. She didn’t think her sister’s family would all still be at her house when autumn came. But it was already late July, and though she wasn’t sure exactly when the school year started in Millinocket, she had the impression it was within the next month. “I suppose we could enroll them at the public school.”
“I suppose,” said Tom. “Or boarding schools?”
“Absolutely not.” Her sister had been a wealthy, busy professional, and so perhaps a likely candidate for the type to ship her kids off to such a place, but Megan knew she had been adamantly against it. Karen had tried for years to have kids, suffered more heartbreak than any woman should have to bear, and once she had what she wanted she wasn’t going to send them away from her. “She would have never wanted that. She wanted them to grow up with a proper family. So that’s what we’ll have to be, for as long as it takes.”
“Okay,” said Tom. She knew he still had doubts. So did she.
But what else could they do?
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