Hidden Burdens (working title)

It's Never Easy to Say Good-Bye

(The chapter title is based off a Wynonna Judd song by the same name)

It was a long, tortuous week of trying to distract herself, but Kimmy got her journal back the following Monday. As soon as Mr. O'Reilly let her come in, she slowly made her way over. Before Kimmy pulled out her chair to sit down, she opened her journal and flipped to the dreaded page. Her heart raced with each page she turned, flipping back when she missed it.

There, at the top of the page, was the usual checkmark Mr. O'Reilly left to mark as complete.

Kimmy scanned the page for any other blue ink. Nothing. No comment. Just the checkmark. This should be enough, shouldn't it? She answered the journal prompt as intended. So why did Kimmy still feel defeated?

Mr. O'Reilly called over to get her attention. "I brought donuts this morning." He waved her over to have first pick.

Kimmy closed her notebook and timidly made her way over to Mr. O'Reilly's desk.

Mr.O'Reilly opened both boxes and offered her a napkin to hold the donut on. "Did you have a good weekend?"

Kimmy shrugged.

Her teacher just smiled.

Kimmy looked back at the two dozen donuts. After a minute of decision-making, she chose the Boston Cream, picking it up with the napkin like Mr. O'Reilly suggested, and took the donut back over to her desk. Before taking a bite, Kimmy wrote this morning's journal prompt first so she could eat while she brainstormed.

This time, the journal prompt was the usual "Did you do anything fun or exciting over the weekend" prompt Mr.O'Reilly seemed to ask at least once a month.

Kimmy thought about the past weekend. She still got to visit with Zach the day before. Only they took a break from the park and instead, grabbed a late lunch from a Sonic restaurant. Thankfully, it went better than the last visit, though Kimmy was on high alert guarding her food while Zach's foster dad fed him one bite at a time to make sure he didn't shove the whole burger into his mouth.

But so far, Kimmy hadn't wanted to share anything about her family with Mr. O'Reilly. As nice a guy he was, she didn't feel comfortable. Not yet, anyway.

Saturday, they met Mary and Miguel's family at a Christmas public event in Glendale. Both had planned it for the same weekend, so both parties were welcome to join the other.

Miguel introduced his cousins, who were close to his age, to Kimmy, while Mary introduced the older ones to Claudia. The entire family was friendly and welcoming.

Kimmy decided to write about the Christmas event they went to Saturday night for her journal prompt, explaining the activities they saw and did. She mostly watched the others have fun, though. There was a lot of Christmas music playing. Miguel and his cousins got pictures taken with a Santa-wannabe. Everyone could see that wasn't the real Santa. Why would he leave Mrs. Claus and the reindeer behind?

-- & --

Claudia ended up putting off her job search to spend as much time with Mary as possible.

"You don't have to do that you know," Mary said that afternoon while the kids grabbed their snack.

"I know," was all Claudia said.

Miguel also played with Kimmy as much as he could, as well.

Kimmy was in the family room after finishing her homework. No one else was in there, so she took the opportunity to see what video games they had on the shelf beside the entertainment center. There were games for the Wii and PS4. She ran her finger along the spines, occasionally pulling a game out to look the cases over and read the back. A game with a white wolf caught her attention when Miguel wandered in, asking if she wanted to play the Wii with him.