Beginning of the end

Part 21 [January 19, 2022]

It was Kiefer's day off, as was easily evident from him still being in bed at ten AM. Blake was not in bed though. Zelda was a sweet, beautiful, wonderful, angelic little blessing, but if it was 7:15 and she wasn't up off her pillow, she was sick. Sleeping in was handled almost exclusively by Kiefer, while waking up early was handled by Blake. The fact that Kiefer usually went in for work before Blake lended itself to this schedule. She was also willing to forgo sleep, despite badly needing it. Tiredness was a comfortable fog, but she tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time. When she was out properly late for work, Kiefer sometimes woke up with Zelda. Either that or there was a sitter to handle things on tour. Blake was at least lucky to be with Kiefer in that regard because were they separated he would have a good argument for custody. An active musician who wanted to tour was not a good fit for a child's sleep schedule. Blake and Kiefer made it work though.

Blake was working on a snack for Zelda when she saw Kiefer come out to give Zelda a kiss. He was still in his sleepwear, so she didn't bother to interrupt him. She started on some coffee. He would appreciate that. Before it had finished though, she saw him exit their room again, this time fully dressed.

"Uh, Kiefer...?"

He looked into the kitchen area at her. He still looked a bit tired, but freshly showered. "Coffee ready?"

"Not yet, maybe... ten more minutes?" she suggested, not good with timing.

He sighed, "Nevermind. I'll get something on the road."

The road? Blake wanted to ask, but he was just waving and taking his leave. He was out the door before Blake registered. She sent him a text, asking when he'd be back, and got back an enigmatic "not sure yet, I have errands."

After lunch, but before nap, Blake headed down to the shop with Zelda. It was open, but Kiefer took Sundays off. For family time, in theory. Usually it worked that way, but today was just an unfortunate exception.

"Hey Blake," the front desk girl said as Blake and Zelda came in. "Heeeey, princess. How are you?"

"Good. You have candy?"

Blake laughed quietly, and the front desk girl beamed. "If your Mama says you can have some."

"Mama?"

"Sure, just one." Blake allowed her daughter to collect a sucker from the jar. She was good with those at least. Other than the sticky candy smears that she always got on her cheeks. That was an easy fix. Blake's eyes settled on a colorful card with balloons on the front counter near the worker. "What's that for?"

"Oh! Do you want to sign? Its for Mary Johnson. She's turning nineteen today. She's off though so we're going to give it to her tomorrow. Jo is going to get some balloons to put in her workspace tomorrow morning."

Blake smiled softly, "Sure, that sounds nice. Just a moment." She took a pen and signed a short note in the card. It was full of signatures. Apparently from the day before and that day. She did see Kiefer's name with a simple "You Rock - Kief." Kaleb's primary nickname for him. Blake wrote near his note "Happy Birthday, enjoy life to its fullest. You have passion and talent. You're a star – Blake G."

Blake could not claim to know Mary very well, but she had enjoyed her drunken company at the New Years Eve party, and they'd talked a few times before and after. She was nineteen now. That was cool. Blake could hardly even remember life at nineteen. Crazy that she was thirty now. She felt old.

"Is she doing anything fun today?"

"She said she's getting her hair dyed. I don't know what color, but she said she'd surprise us tomorrow. I'm betting blue though, its her favorite color," the front desk girl wagered. Blake smiled.

"Blue hair sounds cool. Send me a picture when she comes in."