No Ordinary Love

Every Day Is Laundry Day..

Kelly's absence makes Stella regroup and focus on other people who deserve her attention.....

But when she comes home.... the Loft is still empty.... and she is lonely...

♡♡♡♡♡♡

Hermann opened the door to let Stella in. He looked tired and seemed to have aged by several years over the past month, the existing bags under his eyes from years of shift work and the stresses of owning a bar, deeper. Heavier.

"Come on in, Kidd." Hermann picked up some laundry from the bottom stair and rolled it into a ball, carrying it into the kitchen under his arm. He moved crockery into the sink and dumped the laundry on the counter.

"Laundry day?" Stella quipped in empathy.

"Every day is laundry day around here." His voice was lacking the punchiness of everyday Hermann, his eyes not quite finding hers.

Stella's chest tightened, and a mist threatened her eyes, but she blinked it away furiously.

"Coffee?" Turning away, he picked up the pot and held it up.

"Yeah. Please "

"Go on up. You know where our bedroom is. Cindy's really looking forward to seeing you.... I'll bring up the coffee.."

"Thanks, Hermann." Stella left the chaos of the kitchen and headed up the stairs slowly, feeling the weight that seemed to have permeated this previously happy home.

The house was quiet in mid week, the five Hermann kids at school, but there were signs of them everywhere, Stella thought with a smile. This was a 'lived in' house with every inch speaking of someone. Her smile grew wider, as she walked past a tennis racket abandoned at the top of the stairs, a pair of sneakers a foot further on and a backpack outside a bedroom door, thinking how Kelly would have a mini seizure with so much abandonment of possessions. Everything had a place at the Loft. Stella's chest tightened again, the ever-present hollow inside her expanding.

"Come in, Stella." Stella's knock on the bedroom door was answered straight away, and she pushed open the door,

Cindy was sitting up in bed, her face lighting up.

"Hey, Cindy."

Stella hid her initial shock at the headscarf and the chalky pallor to Cindy's skin. Of course, Hermann had already told them about how the chemotherapy was going and the side effects on his wife, but it was still jarring seeing the first wife of 51 lying back against the pillows, looking frail. But the wide, warm smile and the twinkling brown eyes were the same, and the appreciative welcome genuine.

"Stella! Hi! "Cindy patted the bed." Come and sit down. It's so good to see you."

Stella put her arms around Cindy, squeezing the older woman. They had always got on well, especially when Stella had lived in their garage conversion, often popping into their kitchen for an impromptu breakfast coffee or one of Cindy's famous baked offerings.

"How are you doing, Cindy?" Stella settled on the spot that Cindy had offered on the bed.

"Oh, I'm o.k." She responded with a flick of her hand as if being diagnosed with lung cancer was a trivial inconvenience. "Not sure about the headscarf, however!' She pointed to the Chicago Bears bandana tied around her head. "Kenny James." She explained with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh, it looks totally cool, Cindy! You are totally rocking the hip chick vibe."

Cindy laughed. "Well, I'm not so sure about that, but it made Kenny- James happy, so that's the main thing."