Three Little Birds

Safe Haven

I woke early that Sunday, dreams, or should I say nightmares, not allowing me to want to even attempt at sleep; nor could I lie there wide awake.

Now, an hour later I was on my second cup of coffee, quietly sipping as I enjoyed the peace of a new morning's sunrise.

I heard the back door open and quietly close.

I smiled behind my coffee cup as I took a sip. Liz sat down next to me, her bed head on the highest level of insanity, her giant cup in one hand, her box in the other.

Once she was situated she smiled at me before leaning over and kissing my cheek. "Good morning, gorgeous."

I smiled through my outrageous blush. "Good morning, Liz. Sleep well?"

She followed my gaze, rolling her eyes upward as if she can see the top of her head. She glared and failed at attempting to smooth it all down.

I laughed. "You may as well give up. Nothing tames that jungle but a shower."

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Fuck it."

She lay her head on my shoulder and we sat in silence for a beat, listening to the natural sounds of the morning. After a moment she kissed my cheek once more and sat back up, opening her box as she did so.

"How have you been? I feel like we haven't seen each other in weeks." She expertly rolled a couple blunts before lighting one.

It did feel like that. Sure we usually rode in to work together and home, and then while at work, but those were short rides filled with superficial talks before the start and at the end of the workday.

The season was on the upward slope of being packed with tourists, which meant during the day we barely had time to pee, let alone get into any kind of meaningful conversation.

I shrugged as I accepted the blunt she handed me as she curled closer under the electric blanket. "Mostly good. Last week I kinda freaked out. I'm sure Mykel told you. But that's really been the only time in a while now."

She nodded. "Yeah, he mentioned it briefly. He didn't go into too many details of what happened, though."

I coughed once as I exhaled. "I wasn't thinking." I took another drag, slow and deep, my focus on the mountains on the horizon. "Mykel has been helping me get over my fear of the tub and water and...I turned it on and got in and..." I gestured indicating 'and'.

"Well...if you think about it another way...it shows that whatever he's doing is working."

I stopped moving, my hand half poised to my mouth, the cherry of the blunt smoking. Her words stunned me. "How?" I made eye contact with her, frowning, considering her words.

"You weren't thinking about it. You went through the motions of not only taking off your clothes but turning the water on and getting into the tub. You were relaxed enough to get to that point.

"Don't think about the fact that you panicked once you got in, think about the fact that you were able to get in."

She kissed my cheek and handed me two of the blunts she had rolled. "I have missed you. Next weekend I'm taking off...the three of us should go out and have fun and then go have dinner."

She smiled and I had to smile back, infectious as it is. "That sounds great. I've really missed you, too. And thanks, Liz. That means a lot."

I sat there for sometime before Mykel greeted me, his face slack with sleep. I smiled at him as he collapsed down next to me, his head falling to my shoulder. I threw part of the blanket over him.