Game of Patience

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Her alarm went off and she ignored it. She wasn't even sure why she had an alarm, she had no reason to be up.

She lay in bed, in her dad's jacket and cried. She didn't know why she was crying. She did a lot of that lately. Crying over nothing and everything at the same time. She cried a few days ago because she poured too much cereal into her bowl. Cereal. Phillips didn't really know what to do, apart from telling her that she could put some of it back in the box because she hadn't poured the milk in yet. Then she cried because she didn't think of that and she was meant to be smart.

Phillips just kind of stood there, staring helplessly as she sobbed while pouring some of the cereal back into the box. He kind of slowly backed out of the kitchen and disappeared into the living room. She didn't blame him. She would have done the same thing.

There was a knock on her door. She told Phillips to enter, she was pretty sure he wouldn't care about seeing her in bed.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Eh." Was all she managed to say.

"Okay, well you can either have breakfast downstairs with me. Or I'll bring it up and you can have breakfast in bed, just this once."

"Bed please."

"Okay, no worries. I'll bring it up."

He closed the door and she listened as he went down the stairs. She heard him move in the kitchen and heard his foot hit the steps. The door opened again and Phillips bought in a tray with breakfast on it.

"Omelette today. I thought it might be easier on your stomach. I bought a glass of apple juice up too." He smiled as she sat up in bed. The tray was heavy but the weight felt nice to her, it was different, warm and comforting.

"Will you stay with me?"

"Let me get my food too, we'll eat here."

He left and returned a few moments later with another tray. He sat on her desk chair and rested the tray on his lap. He looked at Brooke. She suddenly felt very self conscious. She hadn't removed her make-up last night, or combed her hair.

"Did you sleep in the jacket last night? Was it too cold for you? I can bring another blanket up if you want, or turn up the heating."

"No, it was fine. It just feels nice. It reminds me of him, like he was laying next to me, telling me stories all night." She replied quietly as she cut up her food.

"It will get easier. It won't go away, but it will get easier. It will be so slowly you won't even notice until you think back and realise you haven't cried at all the things that used to make you cry. The pain will ease, I promise."

"It doesn't feel like it will."

"I know, but I promise it will."

They ate in silence. Brooke glanced at Phillips as he ate. "Thank you, for yesterday, last night and breakfast." She realised she hadn't thanked him.

"It's okay. You thanked me last night when I put you to bed, but I think you were half asleep."

"I don't remember."

"I'm not surprised."

"Did I drink yesterday?"

"Yeah. Oh, you mean alcohol? No, not a drop. But you were exhausted. You fell asleep on Roger. We were some of the last people to leave the house. He placed you in the car and I carried you into the house and placed you in bed."

She looked at Phillips. He was slim, not to mention old.

"How?"

"I'm stronger than I look." He laughed. "Anyways, today I thought maybe you'd like to come to work with me for a change, meet my team. I've got to pick a few things up and pass on a few messages, so we'll only be there for a bit. But I want you to meet everyone. When you go to school, they might have to pick you up on the days I can't. At least to begin with, then you can walk home."