Rose Garden [book two]

Chapter One

For a while, I watch the sky morph into an entirely new time of day. First it was a deep purple of the night that blankets you into its darkness, then it slowly shifts into a lighter shade of purple until it has become a gloomily light blue, the crack of dawn.

Days and nights were always the same to me. Neither even dared to indicate what I should do with my life anymore. The night never actually told me to go to sleep as the day time never really bid me to stay awake and be productive.

Maybe it was because I tried to remain awake for an entire twenty-four hours, not knowing when his call would come. He never remained in the same time zone for too long, so it was hard for me tell when he would call and what time it would be, so it was best if I remained awake forever.

My eyelids only start to close after the sun has fully revealed itself. I crawl back into my bed after sitting at the window for so long, my phone clutched in my hand. I'd even fallen asleep with it, in hopes of feeling the vibration.

-

It had only seemed like an hour later, but I wake abruptly, not wasting anytime to stretch, bat eyelashes, yawn, or attempt to rejuvenate in any way.

Immediately, I click my phone to awaken the screen incase I'd missed a call, but the screen remains black.

"Oh, no," I mentally moan, hopping up from the bed.

I rush downstairs for my charger that I'd left plugged in the living room wall, emerging into a breakfast smelling aroma. I peer around the brown couches to find that my charger is missing, and the sockets are covered with baby proof pieces.

"Maura," I poke my head into the kitchen. "Did you move my charger?" But it was then that I realize my deafness to the world without my hearing aids, that I had set down somewhere.

Niall's mom is standing over the stove, not quite turning to scold me about leaving the sockets uncovered, as her head lays on her shoulder, indicating that she's on the phone with someone. So I peer around her, in attempt to read her moving lips.

In a quick movement, she points her elbow towards the socket between the microwave and the blender that lays on the counter, and I see my charger in the wall. Maura's cellphone is plugged in, but I remove hers to plug mine in.

I groaned, as I know it will be a few minutes until it will turn on, but while I wait, I begin to search for my hearing aids.

When I turn, I catch sight of a child in a high chair with her hands against her ears, as if to ward off everything that makes noise while her eyes focus on her untouched food that lays on her table. This was my child.

I approach Rosemarie, trying to hold in laughter.

"Baby, can I have those?" I say, holding my hand out. I must have been really loud because she flinches and within a heartbeat, she rips her hands away from her ears, dropping my hearing aids into my hand.

She knew better not to play with them, but I also knew better not to set them down in her reach. I couldn't even be mad at her.

"You're so smart," I praise her for knowing what they were meant for.

When I can hear the world again, Rosemarie reaches for me, trying to get out of her seat. "You have to eat," I say, pulling up a seat in front of her. I aid her in cutting her pancakes into small pieces, and try feeding them to her.

"Mmmm," she clamps her mouth shut, turning her head away from me. When the pancake bit that I try to feed her touches her mouth, she splurges into a river of tears. When she opens her mouth to let out a cry, I put the pancake in her mouth. She digs it out of her mouth, screaming for dear life.