For Rachel

5

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Rachel groaned.

"Why," smash, "are you," smash," going," smash," off!" tap.

She lifted her head to see that she finally turned her alarm clock that was for some godforsaken reason going off at ten am on a Saturday.

Oh wait.

"Crap!"

She forgot that she was getting brunch with Malaya and Arabella today.

Garfield watched from the chair in the corner of the bedroom as Rachel rushed around trying to put her clothes on to look somewhat presentable.

She rushed downstairs and quickly filled up Garfield's bowl, the cat in question strolling into the kitchen to watch as she tried to find her purse.

Once she felt like she finally had everything she quickly gave Garfield a kiss on the head and rushed out the door.

____

Rachel walked into the diner and said hi to lucy before spotting Malaya sitting at a corner booth, Arabella already focused on her coloring book. As she got closer, she saw the bags under Malaya's eyes and how sickly she looked.

"Good morning ladies. Sorry I'm late, my alarm clock broke." Rachel chuckled lamely.

Malaya smiled, lighting up her whole face, "It's no problem, we're just happy you're here. Bella baby, miss Rachel's here."

"Hi miss Rachel." Bella looked up from her coloring book with a big toothy grin, her wild curls bouncing.

"Good morning Bella." Rachel gave the girl a soft smile.

Once they had placed their orders and Bella went back to coloring Rachel tentatively asked, "Are you feeling alright? Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Malaya weakly chuckled, "Your therapist side is coming out hun."

"Sorry sorry, I'll leave the counseling to the office."

They were soon interrupted by lucy setting their food in front of them, the chocolate chip pancakes interrupting any thoughts.

Every weekend since Malaya ran into Rachel at the park, they had been meeting up at the diner.

Not as therapist and patient.

But as friends.

And Malaya had even stopped getting a babysitter for Arabella by their third weekend brunch, making the three of them to get even closer.

They spent their time at the diner as they usually did; talking, eating, talking, eating. But unlike other days, the sun was out causing the town to be cast in warmness. So after they ate the three of them piled into Rachels car (Malaya and Bella walked) and drove over to the same park where she first ran into Malaya.

"So where do you find the Hershey kisses with the cute notes in them?" Rachel asked once they parked themselves on a bench.

"You can buy them from the corner store on Barben, my mom first introduced me to them. I would use doves, but they're too expensive." She responded while keeping an eye on her daughter.

"I love that."

"Yeah, I'm just trying to do my part to make the world a little nicer."

The two sat in comfortable silence watching Arabella play and socialize with the other kids on the playground.