Page 26 of Resilience on Canvas

Robert clenched his teeth, fury flaring to life on his face.

“He was , but... Goddammit, that bastard stopped payin’ months ago.

And now we’re in trouble! Now I’m in trouble!

That son of a bitch left me with nothin’ !

Mr. Richard, the man I spoke to, he said that the bank sent us a letter last month.

Not that my bastard father ever showed it to me, but Mr. Richard said it was one of those foreclosure letters. We’re losin’ the fuckin’ farm, Hen!”

“No!” Henry said, his own eyes filling with tears. “No, that can’t happen!”

Robert choked out, “Where will we live?”

Every word of Robert’s question was wrought with such pain and misery that Henry almost fell to his knees. He wanted to cry out, to curse God, to curse everything and everyone, for how in the world could something like this happen to someone whose heart was so good ?

Henry reached for Robert’s hand one more time, but Robert pulled back.

“I-I can’t,” he said, his voice so soft that Henry could barely even hear him. “What if someone sees us? I wasn’t thinkin’ earlier. I can’t have no one findin’ out that we... that I... ”

Robert squeezed his eyes shut like maybe he was fighting to keep more tears from coming.

Sorrow erupted from Henry’s eyes instead, tears slipping down his cheeks.

He wasn’t sure if Robert was saying that they couldn’t hold hands no more for forever or only right then, but still, Henry’s heart began to break for the third time that morning.

It was breaking for Robert. It was breaking for Robert’s family.

It was breaking for their picture-perfect future that wouldn’t never come to be.

Henry let out a sob and hated himself for it.

He wanted to be strong for Robert. But he couldn’t manage it. It seemed like no matter how badly he wanted to be strong, he’d never be nothing but a pathetic little lamb.

“Don’t cry, Hen,” Robert said, his bottom lip trembling. But Henry couldn’t stop. Robert curled his hands into fists. “Goddammit, Hen, stop it! Please! ”

Henry inhaled a trembling breath.

“Okay,” he eked out, sniffling. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Robert let out a small, frustrated scream.

“I need to figure this out! I can’t have you blubberin’ while I’m tryin’ to piece together a plan to keep my family from starvin’!

” Spinning in a little circle, Robert kicked the bottom of the nearest shelf, causing a tower of cans to topple onto the tile floor.

“Christ, or maybe the Goddamn Devil’s snow will take us before it even comes to that!

Without our farm, we’ll suffocate if we ever have one of them huge storms again.

I mean, hell, look at May! She’s coughing all the fuckin’ time!

Just like... fuck , just like Pop had been before he spiked that fever! ”

Henry’s hands flew to his mouth, stifling a cry. Gosh, poor little May.

“Fuck, Henry, I’m losin’ everything,” Robert said, running a hand through his hair. “Everyone will suffer because of me. ”

“Because of you ?!” Henry spluttered. “Robert, you’ve been workin’ so hard for everyone!”

“And it wasn’t enough, was it?!” Robert yelled back. And then, in a much smaller voice, he repeated, “Was it?”

Those two tiny words struck Henry like a bullet. He staggered back a step, laying one hand over his shattered heart. How could this be? How could everything fall apart like this?

Even though everything felt hopeless, even though he himself felt helpless, Henry knew he needed to be there for Robert. Any way he could. He wiped his still-wet face with his sleeve.

“Robert, I can take yer shift today. Why don’t you head on home, be with yer family?”

“Weren’t you even listenin’ to me?” Robert huffed. “I need the money.”

Despite the fact that Henry knew Robert’s harsh tone was only the result of him hurting so bad, Henry still winced at the sharpness of Robert’s words.

His first instinct was to curl in on himself, to slink off and tend to his emotional wounds, but instead, he took a moment to close his eyes and force the pain away. Because Robert needed him now.

“I know, but I could still let you have the money I make, then?”

“No way in hell that’s happenin’,” Robert scoffed. “I earn my own money. I know I’ve let Clara take you up on the offer for free cans of food here and there, but that ain’t the same as me lettin’ you work yer tail off and then takin’ the money from you.”

Henry looked at him pleadingly. “It wouldn’t be too much work for me, Robert. There’s only one skid of cereal to put out. Workin’ the register’s easy enough.”

Robert pointed a finger and poked Henry in the chest. “Hen, if you think I’ll be changin’ my mind because of them puppy eyes of yers, I have to tell you, you are sorely mistaken. ”

Heat flooded Henry’s cheeks. Gosh, would Robert ever think of him as something other than a little helpless puppy?

Robert’s expression softened, the fury fading from his eyes, and he retracted his hand. Sighing, Robert moved the same hand through his own brown locks. Henry looked away.

Keeping his gaze fixed on the floor tiles, Henry felt sorrow bubbling up inside of him, starting as a pinching in his chest and moving up his windpipe. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from whimpering.

Like a Goddamn puppy.

Robert cupped Henry’s chin and lifted it. “I’m sorry I said that, Hen. I promised I wouldn’t never call you a puppy no more.”

“It’s okay,” Henry said, though his words were lacking even a lick of conviction.

“Hey, I know how you can help me,” Robert said sweetly. “Do you still want to?”

Henry’s heart fluttered, some of that heaviness lifting. “Of course.”

Robert said, “Everyone in my family’s hurtin’ right now. I need someone to check on them. Think you can do that for me?”

After a beat, Henry nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d be happy to.” With a firm nod, Robert removed his hand, and then Henry said, “Should I tell Clara about the, uh, bank stuff?”

Robert shrugged. “Might as well. Maybe she’ll take it better if yer the one to break the news.

I mean, I think you’re likely to say it better than I would.

Because I’ll probably flip a Goddamn table if I’m the one to tell her.

And so, if you tell her without the same kind of.

.. liveliness, then maybe she won’t fall to pieces from worry. ”

“Yeah, I won’t flip no tables or nothin’,” Henry said. “I’ll make sure she knows that we’ll figure it out, too.”

“Don’t lie to her.”

“I won’t! ”

Robert let out a little incredulous-sounding huff. Henry rolled his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment.

“We’ll figure somethin’ out, Robert. I promise.”

“God willin’,” Robert replied, that half smile returning for a fraction of a second, and then he thumbed over his shoulder toward the back of the store. “Well, I better start unloadin’ that cereal.”

“Yeah, I’ll, uhm, I’ll head over to yer house.”

He and Robert nodded at each other.

“I’ll see you when I’m finished here. Unless...” Robert trailed off, and the faintest hint of pink colored his cheeks. “Unless you’ll be back home by then?”

Goodness. Robert was asking him to stay, wasn’t he? Henry’s chest tingled with the most wonderful warmth.

Smiling shyly, Henry replied, “No, I’ll wait for you.”

He would wait for Robert always .