Minor swear warning. It's at the end of the chapter and I did censor it.
I was stressed out.
The memorial service had been 3 days ago, and thigs had only gotten worse.
Conor was clingy.
Shayne's stomach was still messed up.
Both Bennet and Sadie needed comforting and attention.
I needed to take care of them all, pay attention to them all, and take care of myself.
Right now I was trying to make supper. Nothing fancy; I couldn't cook very good anyway. Mom never really taught me, so for the past week I'd had to teach myself.
So far my cooking hadn't killed anyone, so that was a plus.
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
The kitchen.
Conor was glued to my hip, Shayne was hanging out on the bathroom floor, Bennet was in his room, and Sadie wanted attention. But, of course, I couldn't really give it to her because I was busy taking care of everyone else.
See my dilemma?
I wasn't cooking anything really complex. Just spaghetti and meatballs. But, remember, before this week I'd never really cooked a real dinner before.
I tried to stir the pot on the stove with one hand while holding Conor with the other. Soon Sadie was by my side and attached to my leg.
I sighed. "Bennet, Shayne, you wanna join the party, too?"
Bennet didn't respond. Once this spaghetti was done I'd have to check on him.
"Shayne?" I called. "You okay?"
He grunted.
I frowned, put down the spoon, and went to the bathroom.
Shayne was sitting against the walls by the toilet, head leaned against the wall and his eyes full of tears.
I put down Conor, sat down next to him, and gave him a gentle hug. He leaned into it.
He sniffed. "Why does life have to suck so bad?" he croaked, and his tears spilled over.
I sighed and rubbed his arm.
"I..." I whispered, "I don't know."
I was the oldest. My siblings had always expected me know the answer to their questions.
Lately I hadn't been able to give very many answers, and that was... really hard for me.
