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Affinity arrived to a quiet house when John B brought her back home from Figure 8. Her hand gently fell on the knob of the door to twist it open. The hinges creaked slightly, causing Affinity to pause for a moment before continuing, just to be sure she wouldn't wake her father. The house was still dark, the only light being the rising sun shining through the windows. Her father was still passed out at the dinner table. She took out her phone from her back pocket and checked the time, it was a quarter past six. She recalled him telling her that he started work at seven.
When Affinity was younger, one of her favorite things to do was make her dad breakfast. She was always awake in the mornings and her mom was an early riser, so, her mom taught her how to make his favorite breakfast food. He never wanted anything extravagant considering he had been a simple man all his life.
"Toast, because your father is tough on the outside, but soft on the inside. Honey, because when he cares about someone, he sticks to them forever. Cinnamon, because he's got a little kick. And sugar, because he's the sweetest man in the world."
Her mother's word rang in her head. She said that phrase every time they made it together. It may have been the cheesiest metaphor ever, but eight year old Affinity didn't think so. To her, it was love. At that moment in time, she really believed that her parents had the perfect marriage, but she must've had Affinity fooled just as much as her father. You never know what goes on behind closed doors.
They used to do that together all the time, but that was before her parents' love for one another was slowly deteriorating into nothing. A time when the Mccormick's were truly happy. It was probably the happiest memory she shared with her mother and a part of her missed that. But even the sheer thought of that made her stomach turn with regret. How could she let herself think anything positive when it came to that woman? How could she betray her father like that? Affinity never knew the complete reason as to why her parents fell out of love. She never received that form of closure, but it was still too early to bring up anything like that...not when he finally found happiness after living years without it.
Affinity shook herself from her thoughts, trying to ignore the bombarding thoughts that came with that sensitive subject and tried to focus on her task. She reached up to one of the top cabinets, propping herself on the tips of her toes so her fingers could find the package of bread. She pulled it down and set it on the counter to untwist the knot and put two pieces of bread in the toaster before she went searching for the condiments. She found them quickly, just in time for the toaster to ding. She grabbed a clean plate and carefully let her fingertips fish the toast out, almost throwing the two slices on the plate so it wouldn't burn her. Affinity decorated the bread accordingly and smiled at her creation. Lastly, she collected a fork from the drawer and set the plate down in front of him.
The sound of the plate clattering on the table woke him up. He groaned softly while both hands reached up to rub his eyes.
