21.

 

Sadie had hoped he'd be home in time for dinner. She'd even set a place for him at the table, but the unused white dinner plate stared up at them blankly as she and Marcus ate their chicken and macaroni and cheese.

"When will Daddy come home?" Marcus asked between forkfuls of soft pasta.

"I'm not sure." Sadie listened closely, hoping to hear his car pull up in the driveway, his keys jingling at the door, his heavy footsteps coming through the living room, but they never came.

All through dinner Marcus talked about superheroes jumping from his chair to demonstrate acts of superhuman strength. His teeth clenched as he lifted an imaginary bus. Sadie nodded and listened, but not really. She focused on the space between his words waiting for them to be filled by the sound of Kevin entering the house.

"I need a cape," Marcus said.

"A cape?"

"Yeah ... for flying." He stuck both of his arms straight out in front of him and ran across the kitchen.

"You're right, that would be better with a cape."

Marcus nodded before sitting down to finish his last few bites of macaroni and cheese.

"Do you remember anything strange happening last night?" Sadie asked him. The image of him levitating above his bed was still fresh in her mind as she searched his face for an answer.

"You mean when I was flying?" he asked, putting his fork down on his plate.

"Yes, when you were flying. Have you done that before?"

"Sometimes." He took a sip of his milk. "I'm done."

"Like how many times?"

"Sometimes." Marcus shrugged.

"For how long?"

Marcus shrugged again. "I'm done eating."

Sadie looked at his plate smeared with orange cheese. Meat still clung to the chicken leg in the middle. "What about your chicken?"

"I'm done," he repeated.

 

Marcus was playing in the living room and Sadie was loading the dishwasher when Kevin finally came home. Marcus dove into his legs as he walked through the front door, nearly knocking him down.

Sadie stepped out into the living room with a dirty plate in her hand. She noticed the black suitcase, the one he had taken with him, sitting on the floor next to the door and rushed toward him, wrapping her arms around him. Marcus yelped and wriggled out from between them.

"I'm glad you came home," Sadie whispered in his ear.

He said nothing. When she let go of him he wouldn't look at her. Instead, he asked Marcus about school and joined him in his game of action figures. Sadie's heart ached, but didn't she deserve it? She watched them for a moment on the floor before remembering the plate in her hand and returning to the kitchen to finish loading the dishwasher. All the while, she was listening to the ones she loved and vowing never to let them go.