A Time For Love (A Time For Love Series-Book 1)

A Holiday Flashback

As the little family of four spends their first afternoon together in Lena's apartment, Mike was happily preparing his famous meal as he had Frank Sinatra's Christmas record playing in the background. 

Despite the snow that was now falling pretty heavily, he was happy to be here and spend the afternoon with everyone, especially his sister. When he had arrived at his apartment yesterday it was just how he remembered it. But there was a different feel about it, something that he couldn't really put his finger on. But if he thought deeply about it, maybe even not that deeply he knew what it was and it hurt. Terribly.

The last time he had been at his apartment was the morning of the shooting. Everything was exactly where he left it, even his coffee mug that he put in the same spot every morning before he went to work. The drying rack. His food had spoiled obviously, but the nurse that was going to work with him and check on him daily had assisted Mike with cleaning his place up and helping him with laundry that very morning.

For now he would just send it out to be done, because it was a bit of a challenge, even if he was pretty good at getting around his place. Thankfully the man had no issue walking up the steps to his second floor apartment either.  

Being he lived on W12th Street, he wasn't too far from Lena's apartment down in Greenwich Village near the NYU campus that was a tree lined street and ironically near the West 4th street basketball courts. When his walking improved, he could easily walk over, but for right now, he was just going to use a taxi and later on the subway to get around.

Mike loved being out of the hospital, and a part of him was anxious to get back to work even if he wasn't sure how he was going to feel. He knew he would feel the giant hole of Tess no longer being there, and he would certainly miss his sisters presence. Was she going to ever be able to be a cop again? And did she want to? Would the trauma once she remembered be too much? And if she didn't remember, would she once she started the job back up? 

Those were all questions he asked himself as he peels his potatoes and smiles at his sister, who is helping Bird decorate the tree.

"Give me about an hour, guys, and we will be eating!" He yells as Bird turns around to look at him, and Lena sips her coffee.

"Yum! I can't wait to eat!"

"Mike....Mike is a good cook...baby. He cooks good." Stef says as she looks over at her brother and smiles. One he returns.  Part of his heart does break a bit as he continues to watch his sister smile and interact with Bird as the young girl sits on her lap, now hugging her. It was nice, and he was happy she had the little girl in her life, but it was so hard to believe that just last year this time Tess and Stef had just told him they wanted to start a family of their own. 

FLASHBACK

"OH MY GOD! MIKE! How do you always win!" Tess laughs as the three friends are playing their usual Friday night dominos at Mike's apartment. But being it was so close to Christmas,  Mike made his famous sandwiches and spiced hot chocolate. His apartment was usually the hang out spot for everyone, especially after a long week of work, and they just simply wanted to relax and watch movies.

"I just do Tess! You gotta keep up! I've been showing you since we were kids!" He laughs as Tess laughs again and runs her fingers through Stef's long blonde hair as her girlfriend is sitting between her legs. The two women also enjoyed going to Mike's because they didn't need to pretend they weren't a couple, and that was a relief for them.

"I still don't get this game, guys. Like, okay, it's dominos, but I don't get it. How is this fun? I'm ready to veg out on popcorn and watch a movie."

Tess throws her head back, laughing as Stef turns around, winking at her.

"Oh baby, you are so much. Like you just are. I don't know if anyone ever told you how funny you really are. And you're pretty when you're confused."