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Lola closed the front door behind Bryon, and turned to head to her bedroom. Gloria appeared at the edge of the kitchen startling Lola out of her thoughts.

“So, you’re headed out?” she asked.
“I guess I am,” Lola said with a half smile.

“I think this is good.“ Gloria said nodding. “He’s always seemed like a good kid, he was Kyle’s friend and everything. Probably no better person to spend some time with. It might be good for both of you.” Gloria paused. “And…about what we were talking about…” her eyes glistened staring straight into Lola’s.

“I left them on the table,” Lola said. “Maybe you could hold on to them for me.”
Gloria smiled, wiped her eyes, and drew Lola into a firm hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered into her mop of curls. She pulled back and glanced down at Lola’s right hand. “What do you think is in the there?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Bryon didn’t know either.”

“Are you going to open it?” Gloria asked a tinge of excitement in her voice.

“Uh, yeah, maybe in a minute.” she turned it over. “ Lola” was printed clearly on the front in a sloppy print she didn’t recognize.

Lola stepped into her bedroom, set down the envelope on the dresser, and stared at it. She wasn’t sure what could have come form the department, but she knew she didn’t want to deal with any technical forms. She glanced up at the mirror. Her skin was pale, her freckles faded. Her hair needed to be washed, and her current shirt had a jelly stain right on her protruding belly.

“Well,” she said to herself. “It could be worse. I could be missing teeth too.”

She rummaged through a stack of maternity clothes resting on a chair beside her bed. Her mom had been adding a few new pieces every week, and the mound was beginning to lean.

She finally picked a plan purple t-shirt with rippled stitching on the side, pulled off the tag then slid it over her head. It was a little too big still, but the shade looked nice against her skin. She pulled her messy curls into a ponytail, then headed to the bathroom to wash her face.

“Hey Lola,” Tommy said sticking his head out his bedroom door, music permeating into the hallway.

“What’s up?” Lola asked, but something caught her attention on Tom’s computer desk.

“What’s that?” she said walking past him into his den.

“Oh, uh…that’s just a picture I found…”

A girl stared bored in the distance with three eyes. Her only clothing looked like blotches of ink stretched from her chest to her collar bones, her elbow resting on one of Saturn’s rings. The earth drawn in the distance eclipsing the sun.

“Please don’t tell Mom.” Tommy said shoulder’s slumped.

Lola snickered. “You don’t think she’d approve of a mostly naked alien?”

He looked at the ground and rolled a bouncy ball with the tip of his toe.

“You drew this, didn’t you?” Lola asked astonished.

He peeked up to meet her eyes.

“Wow, Tom, it’s incredible, but I promise I won’t say anything.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled. Lola began to walk away, but he touched her arm. “Hey,” he found his voice again. “Is it true…what Mom found? She didn’t want me to know…but, well, she was so loud when she called Dad…and crying…and well, I couldn’t not hear…but…”
Lola pulled her little brother into a hug.

“No, I don’t think I could…I thought about it though. I mean…who am I to be a mom?” she said.

“But God made her yours.” Tommy said tears coming to his eyes. “No one else would work.”

***

Gloria’s car came to an idle in front of the coffee shop.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” she asked. “You don’t have to go in.”

Lola squinted her eyes and nodded. “I think I’ll be alright, it’s only an hour, right?’

“Yes, I’ll be right back to pick you up, and you can always text me if you need me sooner. I’ll be right over there at the fabric store.” she pointed in it’s direction.

Lola took a deep breath, grabbed her bag and stepped out of the car. Beautiful spring tulips were growing along the front hedge of the café, and a few bees were busy going from one to the next.

As she entered the shop, brewed coffee filled her lungs as she inhaled deeply. She hadn’t been here for months, the last time was just before Valentine’s Day.

“Lola!” Maeva called from the front counter. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you in ages, and I hear you have a little one on the way. Well, I could tell from a mile away, you are just glowing! Oh my, well it is so good to see you. Bryon, I mean Officer Pascal,” she said with a wink. “Just came in a few minutes ago, he’s sitting right over there in the corner booth. He wasn’t sure if you would make it. But I told him that you would, that these spring airs would get you out and about, and I was right!”

“Is that our Lola?” Maeva’s husband, Lawrence, rounded the corner from the kitchen and came to stand next his wife.

Lola smiled in return.

“The one and only!” said Maeva.

“How have you been,” he asked with narrowed eyes. “I know these past few months have not been right to you. Your Dad came in just the other week. Now, don’t worry, he’s not going around spreading gossip, he just let us know you were with them, and that you’re doing okay for now.”

His kind voice was resolute, and Lola swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat.

She cleared her voice and said, “My aunt keeps telling me one day at a time.”

“I bet it’s more like one moment at a time!” Maeva called out.

“Well, let’s let her get to visiting, Maeva.” Lawrence said. “Can I get you anything to eat or drink?”

“Some peppermint tea, please” Lola said.

“I’ll be right over with it.” he said with a wink.

Lola crossed the small café to the table set in the corner, where Bryon took up most of the space.

“You made it!” he beamed.

“I did.” Lola said taking a seat across from him.

“I was a little concerned you weren’t going to make it.”

“What would’ve given you that idea?” she laughed sarcastically looking down at herself.

“Oh, you look great, it was the emotional wreck I walked in on that had me concerned.”

Lola’s eyes widened in surprise, and Byron laughed.

“To be blunt, I find, is one of my greatest talents.” he said. “Sorry if it becomes too much, but I don’t see a point in tip-toeing around anything.”

Lola toyed with the leaves on the bamboo plant in front of her.

“Ya know,” she said. “We had one of these sitting in our windowsill once. I really wanted it, and Kyle,” she took a breath, surprising herself at how easily his name had flown from her lips, “had laughed telling me I wouldn’t take care of it, but he surprised me with it anyway the next day when he came home from work.”

“Was he right?” Bryon asked. “Did you kill it?”

Lola winced at his choice of words, but Byron didn‘t seem to notice.

“Yes, I did,” she said after a moment, then smiled to herself. “I forgot to water it…more than once. Eventually the brown stocks were so pitiful that we had to throw them out. I kept the bowl it came in though.”

“Your smile looks nice.” he said.

Lola looked up at him.

“It’s ok, you know, to smile. To live. To have ridiculous amounts of fun.” Byron laughed loudly. “When I was sixteen and my Dad died, I thought that was it, that I would never enjoy another moment in my entire life. And for a long time I didn’t. I was angry, and I hated everyone. I hated everyone for living and breathing because he couldn‘t. I even hated the sun for shining and the grass for growing. But then one day, before I could catch myself, I was watching the sun come up, and I took a second to think about how beautiful it was. So, naturally, I hated myself for awhile for that too.”

“When did it stop?” Lola asked quietly looking down at her fingertips. “When did the hating stop?”

“When I decided that my Dad would hate me for hating this world, and for not living it the way he had raised me to. My Dad deserved more than that.”

They sat in silence for moment, until Lawrence interrupted bringing over a hot cup of peppermint tea.

“Bryon, would you like anymore coffee?” he asked.

“Oh, I think I’m doing great for now, but I tell you what…Lola would you like a piece of Maeva’s famous banana bread?”

“I would love some,” she said secretly hoping she’d be able to hold it down.

The coffee shop had grown steadily more busy as the morning wore on, but Lola and Bryon sat content in the corner booth. The banana bread, as promised, had been delicious and they each were picking at the last bit of crumbs that were left.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone eat so fast,” Bryon said eyeing his plate. “And you ate pretty fast yourself.”

Lola smiled, unable to stop herself. “It was just as good as I remembered, and I haven’t wanted to chuck it back up or anything.” she laughed at herself.

“So, I see your peppermint tea is empty, your bread is long gone, what would you like to do next?” he asked.

Lola’s eyebrows dropped, and she looked at her hands gripping the empty mug.

“Or, I could let you carry on with your day. I’m sure you have some big plans to get to.”

She laughed a short laugh. “Right,” she said sarcastically. “Huge plans.”

Bryon turned to look at the window behind him. The sun was still bright and high in the sky, and only a few puffy white clouds had moved in.

“Well, I was thinking, it’s-” he glanced down at his watch. “10:20 now. A trolley is due to run through in the next ten minutes or so. My next shift doesn’t start until this evening. Would you be up for a ride?”

Lola thought for a moment. She could easily let her mom know her plans, and Bryon would probably give her a ride back home, but there was uncertainty that crept into the pit of her stomach.
“I’ll give you a ride home,” he smiled. “I think it only takes about an hour or so to go around town, and then before you know it, you’re back at home doing whatever it is that is making you frown so hard.”

Lola tried to relax her forehead.

“Ok,” she said hesitantly.

Bryon jumped up, and extended a hand to help her out of her chair.

“Now, the steady rocking of the trolley won’t make you nauseous, will it?” asked

“Everything makes me nauseous.” she said lightly. “Give me just a sec, I just need to let my mom know.”

She stepped out into the entryway of the coffee shop, and quickly swiped open the screen of her phone.

Hey mom, I’m hanging in there okay. Bryon asked me to ride the trolley, so I think I’m going to try it. Is that alright?

Of course that’s okay, sweetie! You have a good time, and I will see you at home. Did you bring a sweater? I can’t remember.

No, but I should be okay.

Lola tucked her phone back into her back pocket, but it immediately buzzed again.

Lola, sorry I haven’t been in much contact. Listen, your dad just mentioned Bryon stopped by your house. Please be careful with him, I‘ll be in touch later. Delete this text when you’re done.

Lola stood there, the color drained from her face. Mark hadn’t talked to her since before the accident. The one time she reached out to a friend, it was him, but he hadn’t even returned her phone call. What did he even mean…be careful…careful of what?

“Hey! You ready?” Bryon asked standing behind her. Lola jumped, then tried to recover with a smile.

“Uh, yeah.” she said unsure of the steadiness in her voice.

“Great. Oh, and did you ever get a chance to look in that envelope I gave you?"

“Uhhh, no, not yet,” she said thankful she didn't have to lie.

“Right, well I'm sure you'll have plenty of time when you get back home today,” he said with a smile. “Of course, it's none of my business, just curious what it could be.”

They made their way outside, saying bye the Maevas and Lawrence and stepped into the warm sunshine. The walk to the trolley stop didn't take much time. Bryon prattled on about the weather and the 5k he was prepping for, but Lola could barely pay attention.

Before she knew it, the trolley’s bells dinged as it came to a stop in front of where they stood. He ushered her in front of him, and touched the small of her back for support as she climbed the stairs. It sent shivers down her spine.

Thank you so much for sharing this with me! The picture below was the prompt for part 19! Hope you enjoyed! For more info about freewrites, visit @mariannewest!

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To the amazing people that read this story! Thank you!
@cecicastor, @scribblingramma, @enginewitty, @janaveda, and @sirmartinet

Much love,
Stacie D

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