Somebody to Hold Tonight (Larry Stylinson)

2

The first week back to school went better than I expected. Lottie was still a grouch and wrestling Fizzy out of bed each morning was nothing new, but we managed to make it through the morning routine and out of the house on time without any major mishaps. Lottie was still pissed off at me because she couldn't go out with her friends, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Fizzy couldn't be trusted home alone, and I almost wondered if she ever would be. For an eleven-year-old, she was awfully sneaky and I most always suspected she was up to no good.

Friday I decided to give the kids a treat and brought home pizza and a few movies for us to watch over the weekend. We seldom ordered take out just because it wasn't in the budget, but given things had gone so well and Lottie was mad at me, I decided to bring a peace offering. It seemed to perk everyone up a bit, and by Monday morning we were ready to start a whole new week of work and school.

The news of Alberto's departure still wasn't settling too well with me. Friday Alberto announced that Monday would be his last day at work, and the new manager would be there. I had no idea who they were sending in to make the changes, but I already had a feeling I wasn't going to like him or her. Sure Reel Time wasn't exactly swanky, but it was a decent place. We kept it clean and I never heard any of our customers complain. I wondered if this buy out was going to be the end of my job. After all, people didn't go to places they didn't trust, and I had a feeling if they tried to turn us into a knock off of Blockbuster we were going to be in serious trouble.

Mondays weren't the same mad rush as Tuesdays usually were. I didn't have to be in at work until ten, but I still got up with the kids and dropped them off to get on the bus. I usually took Phoebe with me to run my morning errands just because I knew she was getting to be a handful. She was at the stage where she liked to drag out all of her toys and make a mess all throughout Galadriel' house. Often times when I went to pick Phoebe up, I spent a good ten minutes just straightening up after her before we headed for home. Admittedly, I think Galadriel secretly enjoyed it because it gave me a reason to stick around long enough to talk.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy talking to Galadriel. In fact, conversation with her was probably the highlight of most of my days. She was so easy to talk to. Even though I knew she thought of me as a grandson, she never talked down me. She always treated me like an adult. She seemed to be one of the few adult figures in my life that recognized that I'd grown up a long time ago.

The problem always seemed to be that I just never had much time to hang around and talk about things. When I was younger and before my mom left, I used to spend a lot of time at Galadriel' house. I'd lounge around on her couch and tell her all the trivial issues of school. I'd do my homework at her kitchen table because her house was always so much quieter than my own. She used to help me when I had school projects to do, and she'd bake me cookies for an after school snack.

I think she was one of the few people I never doubted loved me. The warmth of her smile and the way she could make me feel so warm and safe when she hugged me was something I'd never felt from either of my parents. I knew I a lot of kids felt unloved by their parents and seemed to resent it, but in a lot of ways I felt lucky. Even though my parents were never good with love and affection at least I had Galadriel. At least I knew someone had once loved me. I suppose it was because of her I wasn't completely jaded.

Aside from trying to give Galadriel a break, I liked to bring Phoebe along with me when I ran errands because that was just about the only time I got to spend with her. In the evenings when I got home from work, I had to cook dinner and then it was time for her bath and then I'd read her a book before tucking her into bed. It wasn't exactly my ideal of quality time, but it was the best I could do, and Phoebe loved books. Instead of picking up toys when she was little, she'd pick up books and look at the pictures. When she started talking, she was always saying "read" as she shoved a book into someone's hand.