Tennessee Whiskey  Diaz

prelude.

prelude  surprise visitor

     Milo Buckley had created a morning routine, one that he rarely deviated from . . . and he probably blamed it all on his former career as a special education teacher. Not that it mattered, really. Besides, Suki was the one who enforced the routine. Who knew that a golden retriever could be so bossy?

He slid the patio door closed once Suki had pranced into the back yard. July had been awfully humid, and Milo was not a fan of humidity. He had turned around, and groaned softly. His breakfast had been spread out across the kitchen island. It didn't feel appetizing that morning, although, the mixture of strawberry and banana oatmeal smelt so damn delicious.

A yawn tore through the silence that encased his house. He had had a rough night, and therefore, was having a rather rough morning — some days, sobriety sucked . . . but he couldn't give up, not yet.

     Milo moved, his intention to actually sit down and attempt to eat his breakfast, but was interrupted. He had turned back around, to be met with Suki dragging her paw down the glass door. It made a terrible screech type of sound, one that made Milo shudder in disgust. Instead, he opened the door and let Suki back in.

She had pranced around the kitchen, before she decided to settle into her bed. Milo finally sat down, and pushed his spoon through the oatmeal. Suki's focus had been torn away, and thus, Milo paused too. Then a knock came to his front door.

Suki looked to Milo, almost expectedly.

Milo huffed, then ruffled her fur. "Let's go see, girl." She took off towards the front door, and Milo followed. He hadn't expected any visitors. With no peep-hole or windows, he opened the door slowly at first and when he recognized the person, he almost flung it open. He almost smiled, "Maddie."

     Milo hadn't seen his sister since her wedding, just a few years ago. She looked the same, just slightly older.

     "Hey, Mi." Maddie called him by his nickname, affectionately. Neither one of them knew what to say to another — it had just been so long, and so much had happened since.

     Suki barked at the woman, and Milo had shushed her softly.

     "Uh, would you like to come in?"

     Maddie looked sheepish, "Only if it's okay."

     He nodded and smiled, "Yeah, come in. I'll make another cup of coffee."

Not more than twenty minutes later, Milo had returned to his living room where Maddie had made herself at home on the sofa. Despite the raging humidity of Tennessee, she had pulled a throw blanket on top of her and graciously accepted the coffee. Suki had laid on a recliner, and watched the woman cautiously. Milo had settled into the other living chair, and stayed in the silence for just a moment.

He hummed softly, "That I hadn't missed my sister, but what brings you here, and without your husband?"

Milo doesn't remember much about Doug, except that he could be rather dick-ish sometimes. When they were teenagers, he remembered how love-sick his sister had seemed, and she wanted to do everything with Doug.

She looked down into the cup of coffee, like she was trying to gather her thoughts. Milo didn't push, just waited patiently.

"He, uh, hit me one too many times." Her response was simple, and powerful.

It hit Milo a little too hard. His heart broke for his sister. Since the day they were born until the day they left for college, they had been close.

"Now you're getting away from him?" Milo asked, and she confirmed with a small nod. "Do you need help? I don't have much here, but it's enough."

Maddie seemed rather apprehensive about accepting her brother's help.

     "Maybe," she sighed.

     "Not that it's exactly the same, but I know how hard a toxic marriage can be." Milo mentioned softly. Maddie looked at him, confusion written into her features as her eyebrows furrowed together. He then smiled a little awkwardly, "Uh, Hannah and I, our marriage didn't work, got really bad towards the end. So, yeah, not the same level, but you're my sister, so whatever you need."

Again, Milo waited, just patiently. Maddie fiddled with her fingers and the coffee cup once more, as she thought carefully. After another or minute two, she looked back up to her brother and tears filled her waterline.

"Please," her voice broke. "I can't go back to him."

beloved readers — not my super favorite chapter, but holy shit!! I'm so ready for this!! just ugh, maddie and milo are my favorite siblings and I can't wait for them to rebuild their relationship; speaking of which, there will be a lot of, and a lot more of delving into their pasts as individuals and I'm just so excited!!

also, I know this was super short, but normal chapters will be much much longer