Page 41 of Divine

It had beenabout a couple months since Divine lost her mother, and I was struggling to keep the darkness clouding her from taking over her life. I knew it was easier said than done. It was selfish to want her to bless me with just one of her gut-wrenching smiles or a few seconds of her melodic laughter. I missed her like crazy, and she was standing right in front of me.

A shell of the woman I had fallen for over the past few months greeted me with a weak smile. It had felt good as hell to lie with her and hold her all night the day I heard the news about her mom. I wanted her in my arms every night just so I would know that she was OK, but I didn’t want to feel like I was taking advantage of her vulnerability.

“Did you eat today?” I asked, resting both hands on the countertop on either side of the bag I’d placed there.

Her eyes fell to the floor, answering the question before she confirmed with a shake of her head.

“Well, I have your cookies. We can go light with a couple of protein shakes to go with them for now if you don’t feel like eating anything major.”

“OK. I almost forgot it was time for cookies. What kind of cookies this month?” she asked with a glimmer of hope in her voice.

“I made peanut butter and some chocolate chip. I thought I would keep it simple.”

“Plain vanilla protein shakes then,” she stated.

“Whatever you want,” I reminded her.

“I was just getting up to get a drink. I’m going back to bed.”

“Stay up and watch TV with me. Old sitcoms are the perfect distraction when I start getting in my head too much about shit,” I suggested.

“What you got in mind?”

“You just get settled in wherever you want to watch, and I’ll be right there with everything we need to keep from having to move a muscle for the rest of the night. Sound good?”

“Perfect,” Divine said, nodding softly.

I watched as she dragged herself back to her bedroom, wishing that I had a time machine. Time was the only thing that could heal such a gaping wound. Since I couldn’t speed up time, I did what I knew to do for her. I was present.

I walked over to the refrigerator and removed two of Divine’s protein shakes and two bottles of water. I noticed a fruit platter and grabbed it as well before closing the refrigerator. As I passed the counter, I picked up the container of cookies and proceeded to Divine’s bedroom.

I was surprised to find her sitting on the couch in her room instead of sprawled out across her bed where she had been glued for two whole days. That worked for me because I wanted to keep her as close as possible.

The first night joining her in her bed was warranted. Today, things were a little different, so I was grateful that she had the idea to sit on the couch. She took the cookies and passed me the remote before sitting back and removing the lid from it. I was grateful that she was at least eating something. It didn’t matter that it was cookies.

I searched through a few options before landing onThe Golden Girls.You could never go wrong withThe Golden Girls,and the episodes never got old.

“And if you threw a party and invited everyone you knew,” I sang along with the theme music, getting a soft giggle out of Divine that made my heart soar. Whether my girl knew it or not, she would be OK. I would make sure of that.

By the fourth episode, she was singing with me when the opening credits played.

“Liam.”

“Hm?” I asked, looking over at her as she polished off one of the shakes.

“Thank you for being a friend.”

Months Later…

“Divine, you don’t have to keep doting on me like I’m a child. I’m better now, baby girl. I’m not even in therapy anymore,” Bishop said as I stood to leave.

“Good for you, big head. That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop checking in on you.”

“I know, Delilah Jr.” He chuckled.

No matter how much Bishop insisted that he was fine, I was not going to stop stopping by to make sure of that. Lourdess had been doing a great job with keeping him in line, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do my part. I knew how important it was to have someone in your corner.

Liam had been a godsend, stepping up to the plate in every arena whether I asked him to or not. Between taking me back and forth to see Bishop and just being a present figure when I needed to cry on someone’s shoulder, I could count on him to be right there. Hearing him say that he loved me had terrified me to the point that I was starting to question if I had been hearing things. I was high and delirious, so his confession might have been just my imagination.

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