The Spark Between Us

Chapter 13- The even darker days

"Dear Diary,
Today is the day after Mimi passed away. I can't even believe I am typing those words. The whole day was just a blur of pain, numbness and all the things that must be taken care of when someone passes away.
"Thank God for Asher" was the mantra running through my mind almost constantly. I was a total wreck, but every time I turned around, he was there to help me with anything I needed.

He screened the phone call from Noah and from Sara also, as I just didn't have it in me to talk to either one of them yet. He made excuses to Mimi's friends who came by the house to check on me, so I didn't have to see anyone I didn't want to see. He even went to the lawyers office and funeral parlor with me. He held me when I would break down sobbing at the most random times. How anyone is expected to handle all this while their heart is broken in two, I will never understand.

Thankfully, Mimi was a very organized woman, and she already had all her final wishes lined up and paid for. She was not into "fussiness or frills" as she would have called it and all she wanted was to be cremated, a viewing for her friends and family, and for me to be able to take her ashes home. I learned this at the lawyer's office. When they were notified she passed away, they reached out this morning and asked me to come in. Asher had screened that call as well and he drove and came in with me, as I wasn't feeling up to doing anything alone yet.

The lawyer Mr. Curtis, a large, jovial man, sat us down and gently explained about Mimi's " final resting plans" as he called them and how Tahoe had made sure they had all been taken care of and paid for, prior to her death. She didn't want me to worry, he told me. Then came the greatest shock of all, he handed me a copy of Mimi's will and informed me that Mimi had left me everything. Her house, her car, her life savings, which wasn't a massive amount, but was apparently was pretty substantial.. That was one of the many times I burst into tears. While I was so thankful she had thought to take care of me and not at all surprised, it didn't even begin to ease the pain of her being gone.

Asher reached over and just squeezed my hand gently. Of course, Mr. Curtis must have been used to these situations because he didn't even blink an eye at my sobbing. He just handed me a tissue and waited for my tears to subside. Once I had them under control, he explained I was more than welcome to stay in the house and use the car while everything was being transferred into my name. There were details such as paperwork, death certificates to be filed and a few other things I didn't fully understand but Mr. Curtis assured me he would handle it all.

I left his office feeling somewhat better about all the details of everything, but still miserable and yet oddly numb at the same time. Asher drove me home and when we arrived, I didn't really want to get out of the car. I hadn't really been alone yet. Asher had been with me since the hospital. I didn't want to put him out by asking him to stay again, after he had done basically everything for me today.  He seemed to know what I needed though, because he asked me if I wanted him to stay again. I nodded my head without speaking, grateful for him understanding and for me not having to ask.

Once inside, I realized it would most likely be the second sleepless night for me in a row. I honestly didn't feel like laying in my bed all night wide awake, alone with my thoughts, so I sat on the couch with Asher. Eventually, I think he realized what was going on and he went into the kitchen, when he came back he had a pill and a glass of water. He instructed me to take it, telling me it would help me to sleep. I did what he said and after a while I felt my eyes getting heavy.

He scooped me up, bride over the threshold style, and carried me up to my bed. When he laid me down, I protested, the fear of being alone crawling up in my throat again. He told me not to worry, he would never leave me and climbed into bed with me, laying down and holding me tightly until I finally passed out in a chemical induced sleep."