The Good Life

Chapter 106

Bruno's eyes opened slowly in the morning. He stretched out on the small couch he had fallen asleep on. He looked over at Marla who was sitting on the bed holding Angelo while reading the letters.

"Good morning." He smiled at her.

"Good morning." She answered watching him walk past her toward the bathroom.

"He's a good dad, huh?" she asked the baby who was wiggling out of her arms. She wasn't sure if he was able to walk so she held onto his hand leading the baby to the living room. He walked on his own without her help but held onto her hand tightly as they made it to the kitchen. She lifted him up putting him in the high chair. She heard Hope start to cry waking up. "Stay there, Jello." She told him as he started to bang his hands on the tray. Marla quickly changed Hope and led her to the high chair next to Angelo. Hope gave her a weird look. "I know. It's not what I usually do, mama. I'll figure it out." As she got the babies ready for their breakfast she heard Rosie running toward the kitchen.

"Mom, mom, mom, moooommmm!" she yelled sliding into the kitchen using her socks as a braking mechanism.

"Be careful." Marla told her daughter flatly.

"Mommaa..are you sick again?" Rosie asked her mother.

"No, baby. I'm fine." She faked a little.

"No, mommy. You're sick. Let dad take care of you. He always fixes it." She said watching Bruno walk out into the main part of the house.

She watched Bruno walk toward the babies helping her without saying a word. "Rosie...go get ready for school. I'll take you. Abuela is going to come over in a little bit."

"Okay!" she said grabbing the granola bar he handed her going to get dressed.

"I didn't know what to do...." Marla said to him.

"I know." He answered. "Let me take care of it. It will come back." He told her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I don't know, Marley." He said to her looking down.

"Is that what you call me?" she asked him. "No one has called me that since Marley and Me came out." She smiled.

"I do." He said kissing her cheek.

"For some reason that feels right." She told him hearing the back door to their home open. She saw her mother walk through the door hugging her.

"Marla...we'll fix this." She told her daughter not letting go.

"Rosalia! Come on!" Bruno yelled walking toward her bedroom. "Come say good bye to mom and Abuela." She bounced toward them dancing while putting on her backpack.

"Okay! Let's go to school!" she told them hugging her mother and grandmother. "Mommy, feel better." She said as they walked out the door.

Bruno dropped Rosie off at school blowing her a kiss as she ran to her classroom running into the building late, as usual. Bruno drove through the city finding himself near one of the only places that he felt comfortable, his studio. Ari was in New York and Phil was visiting family in the Midwest. He grabbed his key opening the door. He walked through the studio that hadn't been used by him since the last album. He walked over to the empty dry erase board that was a source of many laughs for the past years. He looked down in a corner where a small cloud surrounded a small note in Marla's handwriting

Last night was fun. –xoxoxo

He smiled at the note falling down on the couch crying. "Why Marla?! Why does this happen? Things were so perfect. Marrrlllaaaaa...." he yelled laying his head in the pillow starting to cry. He laid there by himself thinking about what Marla would say to him. It's okay. Get it all out. Tears are a way to get it all out. Cry as long and as hard as you need to. It's okay. He replayed her voice and the statement over and over again in his head. He just sat there crying for what seemed to be whole day. There were no thoughts, not life changing moments that would lead to an amazing lyric or song. Just the emotions of not knowing what to do and what was going on in his life. One moment he and Marla were planning the next step in their lives, moving to another house, and the next he was wondering if she would ever remember him and the things that she loved about him. He didn't even think he had cried this much the first time this had happened. He started to replay the days at the hospital in his head. He flipped through pictures in his phone remembering every little piece and every single detail, down to what she smelled liked that day. It was those things that he knew she would never remember. She would remember the small memories he handed off to her in the morning. Just when he thought things couldn't be better. But that's just how my life is. The second I think it's going to be perfect is the second things blow up in my fucking face. He thought to himself throwinf a nerf ball as hard as he could hoping that it would break something instead bouncing off the wall onto the piano. He shook his head moving over to the piano just playing whatever sounds starting coming to him. Instead of writing it all down the pressed the record button and started playing. I'll figure it out eventually. He kept playing the powerful and emotional sounds still not sure of where he was going. He then moved over to the dums banging on them as loud and as long as he could starting to sing about how he wanted all the moments back and how he was just about to give up. Just when he thought he couldn't anymore he moved to the guitar doing exactly the same thing singing the exact same words. As he finished and thought he had nothing else left in him he let the red light dim sliding down the wall burying his head in his hands. He started to cry again not sure if the tears would ever stop. Then he remembered what he had told her. "When you run out a tears is when it gets better." He said to himself still crying. He heard a beep from his phone jolting him out of his emotions. He picked it up seeing a familiar number, Madison. What? He thought picking up the phone. "Hello?" he asked her.

"Bruno. Phil told me what happened. Do you need to talk?" she asked him.

"Yea....yea...yeahhh. I think so." He told her.

"Where are you?" she asked him.

"In the studio." He told her trying to figure out what was going on.

"Stay there." She told him hanging up the phone.