Solitude || Evan Buckley [1]

chapter thirty six

never give up

"Thank you for tagging along to help me pick out my prom dress."

May expressed her gratitude to Sasha as they strolled down the courtyard of the mall. The two carried shopping bags after a few hours on a scavenger hunt for May's dress for her senior prom and picking up a few things that caught their eye.

"It's no problem. You already know I'll do anything for you." Sasha squeezed her younger cousin's arm that looped with hers, lovingly.

"I appreciate you a lot, especially when mom couldn't be here." May tugged a sad smile. "I understand that the case is really important—"

Sasha concluded, "Just would've been nice to have her here. You don't have to explain yourself, May." She assured the teenage girl. "I'm sure she'll make it up to you as she wanted to be here as well."

Currently, Athena was working the "Realtor Rapist" case as the news labeled him. She's rarely been home ever since the case begun especially pushing through overtime hours. She kept beating herself up after his quick release. He was right there. And now, he's somewhere out in the city free.

"Right."

"Now let's go grab something to eat after our search for the perfect prom dress. Then we can run down your schedule for prom." Sasha suggested, dragging the teenage girl to find a restaurant to eat.

Eddie secured the diaper on the baby by pulling the sticky tabs over to the front. It was like yesterday when he dealt with changing Christopher's diapers. This moment kind of came full circle as he's in his son's bedroom dressing Monet in a pair of clean clothes. Meanwhile, Monet's eyes wandered at the toys and colorful drawings posted around the room. Eddie chuckled at her babbling nonsense and pointing at them.

Finished cleaning up, Eddie scooped Monet into his arms and snatched the diaper bag off the bed before exiting the room. He walked into the living room where Christopher was preoccupied in his video game.

"Hey, Chris, time to get ready for bed." Eddie had prepared to earn a groan from his son clearly not ready to turn off his game.

"One more game, dad, please!" Christopher pleaded.

Negotiations with children when it came to bedtime never fails. With Christopher's good behavior this week, Eddie caved in like the few times he would.

"Fine. But you need to change into your pajamas and brush your teeth before coming back here." He said in a firm tone while his son cheered in victory. Christopher jumped off the couch and raced off down the hallway. "Don't rush when you brush your teeth. Make sure to floss!"