Late night walks
Grace and Carlee have gone out many more times. Grace was especially excited when she got to take her sweet to the museum. Grace has never felt this way about anyone else. Of course she loves her children, but this feels different. She was walking Carlee back to her apartment one night when Carlee asked a question.
“Do you ever get sad?” She looks over at Grace, “Like, when you think about all you’ve missed? You’ve never been outside until recently. That had to have been draining.”
Grace stops. She’s never actually thought about it. It’s hard to miss what you’ve never known, but with how her life is now, it’s hard to imagine how closed her life has been.
“I suppose not.” She says after a minute, “I had my children, I was busy enough.” The pair starts walking again, “I don’t need to be sad. I have all I could ever want now.” Carlee smiles and squeezes her hand in response to that. Carlee is the closest thing to normalcy Grace has ever known. She very honestly loved her, how could she be sad when Carlee was in her life?
“Was it lonely?” Carlee asks. Grace looks down.
“Yes, now that I think of it.” When Reginald was alive, he kept her busy with housework, but when we died, there was an emptiness she wasn’t accustomed to. Carlee hummed sympathetically.
They reach Carlee’s apartment complex, and Grace frowns. It’s a dingy place, it hardly looks safe to live in. Grace gets an idea.
“Why don’t you come home with me.” Grace says suddenly. Carlee looks over at her and stutters for a minute. Grace isn’t super familiar with proper relationship norms, but she’d really like to have Carlee with her.
“We’ve known each other for a while. I can’t have you living here.” She turns to face Carlee.
Carlee looks conflicted. “Maybe for tonight…” she smiled slightly. Grace smiles warmly and takes her hand again. They walk home in comfortable silence, Grace feeling the best she has in a while.