forgetting me

31

New York City
August 26th, 2002

William and Jacob spoke for the rest of their break. They didn't talk about anything in particular, which William was grateful for. He needed any distractions he could get, and he enjoyed hearing about his coworkers' lives.

When their break was up, Maia came to retrieve them.

Maia was a small thing, but she was not to be underestimated. She had the dirty mouth of a sailor and would fight you in an instant, and she would win.

"Social hour's over, boys. Get back to work," she said. She threw an apron at both men and disappeared behind the counter again.

William grinned as he tied his apron.

"What's so great?" Jacob asked.

William shook his head slowly, and shrugged. "Everything. This is so much better than Boston."

Jacob smiled. "It is the best city in the world."

The rest of the day went by slowly and uneventfully. William hung up his apron at the end of the day and bade his coworkers good night. He walked home, and he couldn't get over the fact of how alive the city still was, even at night. Lights shone everywhere, and the sidewalks bustled with people. This would be life from now on.

When he got home, he found Lainie laying on the couch reading.

"What are you doing up still?" he asked her from the doorway. She put her book down and sat up straight.

"Waiting for you," she answered.

William didn't know how to respond. He hadn't expected her to answer him at all, let alone say what she said. He pointed at himself, stumbling for words.

"M-me?" He glanced behind himself, at the still open door, half expecting his father to fill it.

Lainie nodded, the corners of her lips tugging up in a smile. She patted the sofa next to her.

William shut and locked the door behind him, and made his way over to her, almost in a daze.

"What's up?" he asked, trying to clear the disbelief from his voice. She hadn't spoken a full sentence to him in over a month.

"I'm sorry," she said.

William sighed and pulled her into his lap. He smiled at her.

"You don't need to be, Lai." She stared up at him, her brown eyes wide. "It's perfectly reasonable the way you reacted. If you really want, I can go back to being your brother. Anything that will get you to talk to me."

Lainie shook her head. "You're not my brother, though. I don't have a brother. I'm an only child." She grinned sheepishly up at him. "Your only child."

A tear pricked at William's eye, and he hugged her. She hugged him back.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too," he mumbled. He poked her stomach, and she squealed. "Now go to bed!"

Lainie scurried off into the other room where John had likely already retired. She paused in the doorway and turned back to William.

"Night, daddy." William paused for a moment, then waved her off.

He cocked his head at the now closed door, thinking. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. This was as new to him as it was to Lainie. But he supposed he'd get used to it.