change of plans

"What are you saying? You want to move home?" Archie couldn't help but be a little disgruntled. This was his home, afterall. And yes, it was the dead of winter in Omaha, but here they were. It was his, and he got he better job than he had. Emily wanted to move then.

He watched her in the kitchen just staring at boxes as if she were a million miles away.

"No." She winced. "I'm not saying that...I'm just saying, maybe this was not a great time for me to leave my Mom. Alone with the baby."

"But she has Bella." Archie shrugged. He thought Emily was OK with that. Bella was really getting better with the whole family thing. They'd gotten closer the last few months. Even Emily was surprised.

Of course, neither of them could breathe a word about Parker. It was still a word that killed there soul a bit when they said it.

"I'm really sorry when we had to leave." He sighed now. Maybe he should had done this alone. Let her stay with her mother as long as she wanted. But even there he knew Emily felt distant and didn't know what to say or do. "They needed me here, and well, you know..." What did she want him to say. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

"Its OK." She closed her eyes. But she wasn't moving. It was as if she were frozen in time. It was an awful thing to rehash what had happened to Parker out of the blue. It still didn't seem real.

Archie hugged her then. Emily had changed so much since he'd first met her. She was more than just a hairdresser now. She worked at the assisted living place every Friday doing everyone's hair. Why did she worry that her mother didn't think she cared enough. He knew she did.

But things had moved on. Even if that moment had stood still ...when a patron drew the gun and shot Parker at close range, twice. It had changed everything for everyone in the family.