Chapter 84

“Look, kids,” Mike bargained. “If you take your baths now, you can watch Disney before you go to bed.”

It worked. He left Thomas and Tara soaking in the tub with the bathroom door open while he went about cleaning up the dinner mess. He wanted Annabelle to come home to a clean apartment. He felt a bit like a kid himself, wanting her to be proud of him. And, truth be told, it felt good to be doing something productive for a change. It felt good to want to do something.

If this was the medication talking—and it must be, since nothing else had changed—Mike was going to keep on taking it. Not that he had stopped worrying about the things that had been bothering him over the last months, but now the sharp edges seemed to be smoother. The unbearable, bearable. The burden, somehow lifted.

Better living through pharmaceuticals. For today at least. He’d have to take it one day at a time and hope for the best.

He went back to the bathroom and helped the twins get dried off and into their pajamas.

“Don’t forget, Daddy. I need more Bactine on my boo-boo.”

The antiseptic was sprayed on the small finger. Mike applied a colorful bandage at Thomas’s insistence.

“There you go, Sport. All set.”

“I love you, Daddy.” Thomas threw his arms around Mike’s waist.

“I love you too, son.” He bent to kiss the child on the top of the head. “I love you too.”

The microwave beeped. Mike pulled open the popcorn bag and emptied its contents into a large ceramic bowl. The twins were delighted as he set the bowl on the coffee table before them.

“It’s just like going to the movies, Daddy,” Tara observed.

“Even better. You can wear your pajamas, and there’s no tall guy in front of you blocking your view.” Mike squeezed in between the kids on the sofa.

Just as the Disney theme music began to play, the telephone rang.

“Bummer,” he whispered, getting up to go to the kitchen to answer.

“Annabelle Murphy, please,” said a man’s voice.

“She’s not here right now. Who’s calling?”

“This is Peter Henning.”

“Oh yes, Peter. I’m Mike. Annabelle’s husband. How is your brother doing?”

The man’s voice was flat as he delivered the news. “Jerome passed away an hour and a half ago.”