Page 34

Chapter 33

Liam

O ur Mimi is gone.

She was a life source for us all for so many years, but especially for Ains. Millie heard her scream as she was winding down the road back to her place and turned around to run into the scene at the cottage. Ainsley on the floor nearly passed out and Mimi in her chair. Gosh damn it, I wish I could have been there. For Mims, for Ains, and Millie.

I shake my head and swallow back tears. Millie called 911 and then me. I got there as fast as I could, but it still didn’t seem fast enough. When I arrived, Millie and Lee were in an ambulance, paramedics looking over Ains. She had woken up and then immediately started throwing up, taking in her surroundings again.

It was all too much.

I called my dad on the way over and he was already booking flights for the morning. That’s where my helpfulness stopped. I sat down by one of the wooden chairs next to the lake and wept.

It was all too much.

How do I ever come to this place and not feel like Mimi will step out from the garden at any moment? Or bust through the front door, coming back from selling some art? How do I play my next game without a ‘get cooking’ text from her and end every game with a call/voicemail from her? From the moment we stepped off the plane years ago, she ingrained herself into my life. I look up and see the bags of soil half opened in the garden waiting for her to return.

It was all too much.

I feel a soft, delicate hand slide over my shoulder, and I pinch my eyes with my thumb and pointer finger before looking up at her. I know that hand. All too well.

Amelia Powell. My one-in-a-million.

She looks down at me with tears in her eyes, but she won’t let them fall. I see her suited up in her armor, ready to be there for Ainsley, for me.

“I’ve got you, Postie.”She says in an exhale as she squats to bring me into a hug.

I breathe in and take in her smells. The same smells I took in all those years ago. Shea, honey, and a touch of bergamot from her breath. This girl loves her earl gray tea and made some for us and the paramedics, since they had to stay for a while.

We fall into one another again, clinging to each other as I weep.

The memories of me doing that for her flood my mind until my phone rings. I look at it and see he is calling me again. Poor guy doesn’t even know how bad it is yet. Millie clocks my phone and nods. Just reaching over and taking the phone. She walks down to the water's edge to answer Shawn’s call, and I’m sure she is turning his world even further upside down. As if it didn’t already feel like that for him. I talked to him earlier tonight because the man needed an ass chewing, but I also know the media can blow things WAY out of proportion, just like it has done for me many times.

I rub my head, thinking back to my rookie year and the shit that everyone had to put up with in the media about me. Damn, that probably triggered the fuck out of Lee. And as much as she knows Shawn, I know Shawn. Some wounds, when reopened, don’t close up again easily.

Still, he explained the situation and I about shit my pants, ready to call Millie and Lee, and let them know what was going on. Of course, he made me swear not to say anything until he talked it out with Ains, but now with this. I don’t know which way is right and which is left, and I doubt he will either.

Mils calmly nods repeatedly as she talks on the phone, and I take in my surroundings. I look behind me, and Ains is sitting in the truck on a stretcher, still getting some blood work drawn. I’m sure they just want to make sure she is good from how pale she looks, but I stand up and make my way to her.

“Your primary care physician will call you if anything comes up on the blood work. I suggest you find something to eat, stay hydrated, and get some rest.”

She keeps her gaze on the ground and nods. The medic looks at me with concern.

“Is someone staying with her for a few nights?”

I hear footsteps behind me as a voice sweetly says, “Yes, I’ll stay a couple of nights until Mr. and Mrs. Harris are settled and don’t need my help anymore.” Millie chimes in as I look around at her.

“Your help?” I question Mils.

She leans down to whisper to me.

“Yes, I spoke with your mom and told her I would have several casseroles in the freezer. I already called the funeral director for authorization of her passing to get the certificate of…”

She pauses and lets out a shaky breath.

“Well, I’ve got this. Just like you all did for me, I can help.”

She looks at me, and lets one tear fall while still wearing a warm smile, hoping that the smile distracts me from her fallen tear. I wipe it away and kiss the top of her head.

“You don’t need to do that, Mils.”

“But I want to, I need to. You all need to just be together, and I will take care of the other stuff. It’ll help, trust me.”

I nod, not wanting to put up a fight, and follow Ains, making her way inside. I turn back around, watching my best friend get in her car and head to the store.

* * *

W e spent the next week going through items in the home. Mimi perfectly outlined everything and prepared well for this situation. I guess we all kind of were after what happened to the Powell family. Mims had been selling most of her artwork, so there wasn’t a lot left. Ainsley wanted everything else that was left, but we all picked out a piece to keep. Millie spent all night baking enough to feed my whole family for a week straight, so our fridge was overflowing.

Mauve Harris was the best of the best. She had written in her perfect cursive just what she wanted. Her ashes spread in the garden and on the water on the first day of spring. So we kept her ashes in an urn that Ainsley made a few days ago at the request of Mims. She worked for hours at the wheel on this one pot all day, starting and stopping, until Millie finally convinced her that no matter what she made, it would be perfect.

Shawn has come by the cottage twice now, but each time, Ainsley tells him she can’t stomach the conversation they NEED to have. Millie and I are walking around on eggshells, knowing that she could have him be there for her right now if she would just let him explain. But Ains isn’t budging, and Shawn is respecting her grieving process.

Several days later, Millie asked us all to sit with Mimi’s lawyer, and it turns out Mimi left the house to all of us grandkids but implied that it would always be Ainsley’s haven. We all didn’t hesitate to let her have it, and she just cried even more. I can’t even fault her. Looking at her disheveled hair and tear-stained cheeks perfectly captures how my insides feel.

I put my suitcase in my trunk and look back at my parents standing on the front porch.

“Go get 'em, son!”

My dad yells, and I walk back over to them, pulling them both into a tight hug. This week, I have a series of games in Boston, and my parents are returning to Dallas for a few days, but they’ve already booked flights back next month to help Ainsley with the house before winter.

“Thanks, Pops!”

We all feel the heaviness still on our shoulders. I wonder if it will ever go away. When you lose someone that was so pure, so wonderful, so ingrained into your everyday life. Do you go back to the way you used to be, or are you forever changed?

I glance past my parents into the cottage and see Ainsley and Millie playing cards in the kitchen.

Changed.

Losing someone you love changes you forever. I look at the curly-haired girl that has been in this house as long as we have. When she lost her mom, she was never the same. So I know I won’t be either.