A Loss For Words

Car keys

And then she completely forgets where her car keys are. But as with the songbook, they're in her purse, where she always keeps them.

"I have no idea where they are," she says, her voice just very slightly hysterical. "Where are they?"

"It's okay, Mia, we'll find them," he says reassuringly. He assumes she's already checked her bag so he doesn't bother asking. "I'll look out here and you go look in the bedroom, okay?"

She nods and she rushes out the door. He can faintly hear her scrambling around in the bedroom as he checks every corner of the family room and kitchen. She comes back to the family room ten minutes later. "I can't find them," she says, her voice frustrated. "Where are they?"

He gets this feeling when he sees the expression on her face. A feeling that he can't describe. Maybe it's more like instinct. But suddenly he knows that she hadn't checked her purse and that she maybe hadn't even thought to look there.

He turns around to grab it from the hook behind him and hands it to her. "Are they in here?" he asks quietly.

She reaches out to take it from him and sure enough, the keys are in the middle compartment, like they always are. Her face falls. "How did I—"

"Let's go out for ice cream or something," he says softly, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I think you need to take a break."

She nods slowly, but lets him lead her out to the parking lot. "Want me to drive?" he asks, and she nods again and hands him her keys.

The drive to the mall is silent but his mind is racing. There's this feeling in the back of his mind that something's wrong, that something is really wrong, but he pushes it away because he can't even begin to imagine—

He glances over at her but she's staring out the window unblinkingly and there's an expression on her face that he's never seen before. She doesn't look like...Mia for a second but then she turns to him and gives him a small smile and she's back to normal.

He smiles back at her. "So what do you want to do this weekend?" he asks. "We're ahead of schedule for the next album, we should take a break."

She gets an eager expression on her face. "There's this new exhibit at—"

"No," he says flatly. "No museums."

She pouts. "Then why'd you ask?"

He groans. "Because I thought you'd be tired of museums after going to one every weekend for the past month."

"Please," she says, scoffing. "It's like you don't even know me."