Page 46 of Anyone But Her

Chapter Nine

Two Months Later

Luke

"Albert?" I knock on the door to his room. "Albert, it's after eight. We're going to miss our tee time."

It's Friday morning and Albert and I are going to play a round of golf.

"Albert, are you in there?" I knock again. Sometimes he gets up early and goes for a walk but when he does he leaves me a note, which he didn't today.

I open the door and see him still in bed. I go over to him.

"Albert, get up." I nudge him. "We need to get going."

He's a deep sleeper. When I moved in Albert told me I could be as loud as I wanted at night because he'd never hear me.

"C'mon Albert. Wake up." I shake him a little but he doesn't even flutter an eye open.

He's not making a sound. He usually snores. I pull the covers off his chest and see it's not moving.

"Albert!" I shake him harder and yell at him, "Albert, wake up!"

He doesn't move.

I lower my ear to his face. I don't hear him breathing. And when I touch his arm it's cold. Icy cold.

I go to grab my phone but it's not in my pocket. I run to my room and get it off the nightstand and call 9-1-1 as I run back to Albert's room.

The operator answers and I yell into the phone, "I need help! Send an ambulance! Hurry!"

I remain on the phone, trying to answer the questions from the 9-1-1 operator while also keeping an eye on Albert, hoping some miracle will happen and he'll suddenly wake up.

When the ambulance arrives, they pronounce him dead. They say he probably died last night, soon after he went to bed.

"No," I say, watching as the workers prepare to take Albert away. My breathing sounds shaky and I feel my eyes tearing up.

"Maybe you should wait outside," one of the ambulance guys says to me.

I nod, agreeing I don't want to see this. I don't want to remember this day. This morning. Finding Albert, the man I loved and cared about more than anything in this world, dead. Gone. Forever.

When I get outside I hear a voice to my right. I look over and see my dad standing in his yard, his arms folded over his chest as he looks out at the ambulance parked in the street.

"Old man finally kick the bucket?" he asks.

I stare at him, unable to believe he could be so cold. So disrespectful. Not just to Albert but to me. He knows how much I loved Albert.

I don't even know how to respond to him, so I don't.

"Well?" he says. "Did he or didn't he? Because if he did, I know someone who'd rent the place. A guy at work was just saying how he was—"

"Just shut the fuck up!" I storm over to him, stopping at the property line. "What the fuck is wrong with you? A man dies and you can't even show the slightest bit of respect?"

He shrugs. "What do I care? I never liked him. His cranky ass always getting on me for not mowing my lawn when he tells me to. Like it's any of his goddamn business."

I shake my head. "You're fucking unbelievable." I storm back to the house and hear my dad's voice again.

"Guess this means you'll have to move out!" he yells. "No more freeloading, you little piece of shit!"

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