Mrs. Drew, Coggins thought as he stared at the flowers. Now that she’s gone, someone has to bring new flowers.
Coggins reached out and searched for her hand, finding it tucked neatly beneath the crisp white linen. He untucked the sheet—the woman on the bed before him had always hated that in hotel rooms; being tucking beneath the sheet made her feel like she was being entombed.
‘I feel like I’m a mummy,’ she had said. ‘I’m too young to be a mommy.’
Coggins squeezed her hand gently, his heart breaking when he felt how pliable her skin was, and at how this action elicited zero response from her.
He cleared his throat and just started speaking with no forethought. It was best this way, he surmised, given that she hated scripted speeches almost as much as she hated tight sheets.
“Alice,” he began, staring at her pale, gaunt face, “I miss you. I miss talking to you, I miss holding you, I miss kissing you.”
The tears were coming freely now, but Coggins didn’t care. Even if they hadn’t been alone, if they had been in a crowded bus stop or in line at one of the amusement park rides that she loved, he wouldn’t have cared. His emotions were just too raw, too all-encompassing.
“And I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I haven’t visited. I guess—I was just too fucked up, I guess. I don’t know. But I’m here now, and while it may not be worth all that much, it’s all I can do—all I can give.”
He wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand, but was almost immediately overcome with emotion again. Coggins buried his face in the crook of his elbow, while his other hand still squeezed Alice’s tightly.
“Is it gone?”
Coggins’ sobs caught in his throat and his eyes snapped up. But his vision was watery and he couldn’t quite make out her face.
“Is it gone? Did you get it all, Brad?”
Coggins wiped the tears away, but when his vision finally cleared, her face was as it had been before: relaxed, silent, and still.
“Yes, Alice, it’s gone. It’s gone forever.”
A few minutes later, Coggins left the room, his tear-stained cheeks glistening under the long-term care facility’s fluorescent lights. He was so lost in thought that he almost stumbled into a nurse on the way out.
Coggins cleared his throat.
“Excuse me,” he asked.
“Yes?” the woman asked in a soft voice.
“Alice, Alice Dehaust?”
The woman nodded.
“Yes, I know Alice.”
“Well,” he sniffed again. “Well, she doesn’t like the sheets tucked in around the corners.”
The woman nodded, her face pleasant.
“Okay,” she replied. “I’ll make sure we don’t make her bed too tight.”
“Thank you,” Bradley Coggins replied, wiping more tears from his face. “Thank you.”
End
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are either entirely imaginary or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or of places, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © Patrick Logan 2016
Cover design: Ebook Launch (www.ebooklaunch.com)
Interior design: © Patrick Logan 2016
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, cannot be reproduced, scanned, or disseminated in any print or electronic form.
First Edition: January 2016
Insatiable Series Omnibus Edition (Books 1-3) Page 59