The Miner's Girl

Chapter 11

Parker's POV
She fell asleep not long after we got into the bed. She's so great and beautiful. When she's in my arms, helps me fall asleep. Sometimes I stay up late when I'm not working because I can't sleep, but when she's with me, I can go right to sleep. It's like, she's the part that's been missing.

The next morning I wake up, and move my arm to put around her. But she's not in the bed with me. I get up and walk around looking for her. I find her in the kitchen cooking breakfast in my hoodie and her shorts. Her hair is messy up in a ponytail. She looks over at me and smiles. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her.

"Good morning." I said to her.

"Good morning." She smiled as she turned some bacon in the pan.

"Making breakfast for me?"

"Not just for you. But there's some bacon already done in the microwave if you want some."

"Yeah." I walked over to the microwave and got a couple pieces of bacon to eat. "What you making?"

"Bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs."

"Mm. Sounds good."

"Yeah, I figured that at least some of this food needs to be eat. When are we going back to Haines?"

"Is tomorrow good?"

"Yeah, I just want to get the funeral over with today. It's at 2:00."

"It's 10 now. So how long you been up?"

"Like an hour. I was wondering when people would start getting up."

"Well, I'm up now. I'll help you cook."

"Yeah, you mean you'll eat the food. Go watch TV or something. I got it."

"I'll go jump on Payson and get him up."

She laughed, "Have fun with that."

"Okay." I smiled.

But instead of jumping on him right then, I went to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, and went back into the living room. Instead of getting him up right then, I just turned on the television and turned the volume up. That would annoy him so much that he would get up. He's my brother; I got to aggravate him a little.

"Hey, babe, look what's on!" I called.

She walked in and said, "What?"

"Look, it's me." I pointed to the television.

"Yup, you with your shaggy hair." She smiled. "Why's the volume up so loud?"

"To get Payson up."

"Mmkay." She shrugged her shoulders and walked back into the kitchen.

I watched my show for a few minutes. Then Payson started moving on the couch. I smiled because my plan worked.

"Dude, turn the TV down." Payson groggily said.

I acted like I didn't hear him and continued to watch the show. After about five minutes of moving around on the couch, he sit up and cut his eyes at me. He didn't say anything and watched the show.

After a little while, Mom and Dad got up and came into the living room. I heard Mom ask Nicole if she wanted her to help her. Nicole obviously said no because Mom came and sit on the couch. Then Nicole came into the living room.

"The food's ready, guys." Nicole said. "Just go get some and eat in here."

Everyone went into the kitchen and started piling food onto plates, well, me and Payson did. Mom didn't get that much, and Dad didn't get as much as we did. Nicole waited a few minutes before getting her food. We all came back into the living room to sit down to eat.

After we ate, I helped Nicole with the dishes and cleaning up a bit. Afterwards, Nicole got in the shower, and the rest of us watched the show. I couldn't wait to go back to Haines. I hated seeing her have to go through this, but I have to admit, she was handling it pretty well.

Two o' clock was coming around, and we were all getting ready to go to the church. Nicole was sad again as the time to leave grew closer. I could tell she was upset because she wasn't her normal, smiling, talkative self. She was silent with no expression on her face. I gave her a hug, and she started to cry. She held back her sobs, though, and continued to get ready to go. She put on a smile as she walked out with me to the car.

Nicole's POV
At the church, we sat in one of the front rows. We were one of the first ones there, so we just sat there for a while. The preacher came and said hello while he gave his condolences. I had known the preacher for years; he had done my grandparents' services when they had died. He also married my mom and dad, and I was hoping he would still be around to marry me and Parker. I really liked that preacher.

The service was obviously sad, but the preacher did a great job. People went up and gave eulogies. I was supposed to give one, but I was so torn up that I just couldn't. Parker said mine for me while I stood beside him. Every time I felt like I was going to cry, I put my face in his sleeve to hide. Parker let out a few tears, but he didn't cry. Music played when the service was over while people talked. Then everyone went to the graveyard.

The graveyard service wasn't any happier. I cried just as much. It was a dreary day outside. I held Parker's arm the whole time, just as I had done at the church. I was glad when it was over, and I had some closure.

Kayleigh rode back to the house with us, but she went into her room and shut the door. She wasn't handling this any better than I was. I changed my clothes in my room, and then I went to go talk to her. For the first while, all we did pretty much was cry together.
Then I got better and talked about it with her. I made her feel better, and before long, she was laughing as we talked again. Parker knocked on the door as he came in, and she said that he could come in. He walked in and sit beside me on the bed.

"So are you going to go with us?" I asked her.

"To Haines?" She said.

"Yeah." I replied.

"No, I'm moving in with Aunt Ruby. I have school, and friends, and a life here."

"But you can have all of that there, too. Think about it. You can start over and not have constant reminders of what happened." I said.

"I don't care. I'm staying here. I love you, but I think it's better if I stay here, at least for now. Maybe in the summer I'll go up there."

"Won't we be at the mine camp in the summer?" I asked Parker.

"Yeah, I will. But I mean, if you want to stay in Haines so she can go up there, you can. I know that you were planning on going up there me and helping me, but you can stay home." Parker said.

"No, never mind. I'll just go visit some time during the winter when you're at home. I'm living here." Kayleigh stated.

"Okay, baby, if that's what you want, I'm not going to make you go with us." I said.

"It's not because of me, is it? Like if I wasn't in the picture, would you move up there?" Parker asked her. I held his hand because that's what I was thinking too.

"No. You're not the reason I don't want to move up there. I like all of you, and you're a big reason that I thought about moving up there. Because I know that we would have fun."

"We would. I wish you would move. We're going to be traveling a lot, and I know you would love it." I said.

"Yeah, maybe another winter. I've made up my mind. I'm staying here." Kayleigh concluded.

"Okay." Parker and I said.

We all walked into the living room to join the others. We talked amongst ourselves, and I was on my laptop buying plane tickets back to Haines for tomorrow morning. It was cute how Kayleigh was talking to Parker and Payson about sports and stuff like that. Kayleigh's always kind of ran with the boys anyway, so I wasn't that surprised. But the guys were impressed. It was eight o' clock, and I turned it to Gold Rush: The Dirt. I was pretty much the only one watching it most of the time, except for Mr. Roger. Most of the time the other four were talking. Parker got into it when he saw himself.

The night went good, and we all went to sleep happy. For the first time in two nights, when I fell asleep, I wasn't thinking about my parents. I was actually tired and fell asleep right after I said my good night prayers.