Page 56 of Range
“Yes.”
Seconds elapsed as I collected myself. Aubrey had a way of breaking me all up inside, just to piece me back together.
“Uncle Siah.”
All in my world was right at once. Nothing more mattered. Aubrey calmed the raging waters. She silenced the storm. She slew the dragon. She settled the war.
“Yes, Arbs?”
“Daddy died,” she revealed.
The pain was present. So was the sadness. The uncertainty. The fear. It wasn’t her circumstances that broke my heart. It was everything she didn’t know about them. Abouthim.
“And, my heart misses him so much it hurts. Can you come over? Please? It’s not that dark outside.”
From the change in her tone, I knew she’d turned her small body to look out of the window.
“Can you come? Please?”
“Not tonight, baby. Uncle Siah is tied up and I will be for a bit. Mommy’s heart hurts too. You’re going to need her as much as she needs you. And, when you two feel like that’s not enough, there’s Pops and MiMi. Do you need one of them to come over with you tonight?”
There was another pause.
“No.”
“Okay, then, do me a favor.”
“Okay.”
“Sleep in Mommy’s bed tonight. It’ll make you both feel better.”
“Okay.”
“Goodnight, Arbs.”
“Goodnight, Uncle Siah. I love you past the moon.”
“And the stars.”
I endedthe call with my heart in my lap. Both fists clenched, I pressed them into the mattress. There was a war happening in my chest. My thoughts were wild and isolated like wolves that had been separated from their pack in the woods.
The bed was no longer comfortable. I stretched my body across the concrete floor, placing both hands on my chest, hoping to balance my breathing. The ceiling caught my gaze and held it.
Aubrey.
Janeese.
Doris.
Joseph.
Range.
I closed my eyes at the thought of her. Somehow, she’d become an addition to the list of people I’d happily sink for as long as my sacrifice kept them afloat.
Range Childers.
She was a wonder. She was wondrous. A work of art, one that never felt complete and continued improving as the layers were added.
