“Denny’s? I.. I’ve never been.” he admits lamely, but smiles. For her. “First time f-for everything, huh?” Jack asks with a smile as they begin to walk down the street, his head still stuck in the past despite his best efforts.
She’d been so adorable. Dark skinned like his mother, with brown eyes. But there’d been problems with the pregnancy; Bonnie had gotten sick, and the baby hadn’t helped. She had been born too early, too small, too sick, and even with all the money that his father had paid, thrown at the doctors, the little girl passed away only after being alive for four days.
Jack’s only sibling had been cremated, her ashes scattered out in the field besides their house so she would always ‘be on the wind’.
He did his best but his bottom lip shook. He hadn’t been to the field in years. Why hadn’t he? Jack looks at Katelynn, smiling faintly. “Do they serve p-pancakes?” he asks.
His eyes were so easy to read, noticing the tilt of his lips that concern grew inside of her. She couldn’t wait to ask him after all, wishing to wipe the sad emotions from his face. Were the emotions inside of him over this finally cracking? Was he realizing how scary this was and that he wanted out? Her heart dropped into her stomach at the thought.
“Yeah..they do..as many as you want…” she answered. It wasn’t the place to talk about things. She wanted to wait until they were sitting, away from prying eyes. She hoped it wasn’t too busy.
She looked off, seeing it in the distance.
He nods his head and goes quiet, again trying to push the ugly memories away. But were they really ugly? Jack had been eleven years old. He’d been looking forward to getting a baby brother or sister, somebody who wouldn’t pick on him. He’d look out for them, be their best friend.
At least he’d held her in his arms.
It isn’t long until they find a Denny’s and find a booth to sit at, sitting next to each other rather then across from each other. Jack isn’t really looking at the menu since he just wants pancakes, even with his head being the mess it was.
Jack Maple 