Haunted 3/3
Chapter 3:
"You are a big lug, you know."
Don knew he must have succeeded in his quest to get drunk since he was hallucinating Terry standing in his kitchen.
"Yeah. That's me. Stupid idiot."
"Not stupid, Don," Terry said kindly. "Just clueless."
Don looked at her wistfully, wishing he could run up and pull her into his arms; have everything that happened earlier not be real.
But it was real. The Terry haunting his kitchen wasn't.
"We would have been great together," She said, sounding wistful herself.
"We were great together once upon a time," Don misted over remembering their Academy days.
"Yeah..." She echoed. "Still can't believe you took me to a laundromat though."
"Hey," Don protested. "I thought that was a great date!"
Terry smiled. "Yeah, I thought so too, but I liked giving you a hard time about it."
"We were never going to be the normal hearts and flowers couple, were we?" Don asked.
Terry shook her head. "No, more like handcuffs and pass the police blotter and the milk."
Don managed a weak chuckle at that. "We would have made it work though."
"Yeah," Terry agreed. "We would have eventually. But now..."
"Now..." Don couldn't continue. His grief rose up anew and sobs wracked his body. He put his head down on the table, pushing his empty glass aside, and let the pain envelop him.
He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and jerked his head up only to find Charlie there, his face full of concern.
Charlie looked at Don then at the nearly empty bottle in front of him. "Oh, Don..."
Don was too far gone to stop, though, and Charlie patiently wrapped his arms around his brother and waited for him to cry himself out.
Once Don regained some control he managed to choke out, "I saw her... Here."
Charlie gave him a puzzled look, not understanding.
"I saw her! Terry! She was here in my kitchen! She told me I was stupid and I should have married her when I had the chance."
Charlie said gently, "That doesn't sound like Terry. She would have never called you stupid, Don."
"Yeah well, I said I was stupid and she kind of agreed. Said I was clueless."
Charlie offered Don a tiny smile. "That sounds more like her."
"I should have, you know. I should have married her. I just..." Don shook his head. There were too many reasons... No, not reasons... excuses, why he hadn't tried to get back together with Terry.
Charlie just nodded in understanding.
"Maybe it's good you didn't," He said softly.
"What are you saying? That she'd have made a lousy choice for a wife because she had a congenital heart problem that no one knew about? We still would have been happy."
"Yes, you would have. And when she died, you'd have had to raise your kids without her. You and I both know how hard it was when Mom died and we were grown. Can you imagine if you'd had to explain to a four year old that Mommy's never coming home again?"
Don's tears came back to him as he imagined that scenario. It wouldn't have been fair but then would they have had kids if they had known...? Don shook his head. They wouldn't have known she was going to die. No one had known she had a defective heart until the autopsy.
"Yeah..." Don couldn't say more but knew that Charlie had a point. "So what do I do now then?"
"Well, first we get rid of this," Charlie took the near empty bottle and poured the remainder down the sink.
"And next we get you to bed."
"And after that?"
"You do what Dad did. Take one day at a time until you figure out how to live in a world without her in it."
Don nodded sadly, glancing back at the kitchen as Charlie guided him into his bedroom.
"I miss her."
"She'll always be with you, Don," Charlie said softly.
With one last glance at the now empty kitchen, Don sighed. "I hope so."