When Love Walked Away novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Porch Light

On Tuesday evening Gabe arrived with a drill in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

"New locks," he said. "Front, back, and the garage door. I do this for the depot on weekends."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to."

"Then why?"

"Because you shouldn't have to ask," he said.

He worked for an hour while I sat in the kitchen with the yellow dress across my knees.

It was the one with small white daisies, the one she wanted to wear to kindergarten in August.

I had washed it twice, though it was clean.

When the last lock clicked, he came and stood in the kitchen door with sawdust on his forearms.

"Done," he said.

"Thank you."

"There's one more thing."

He took the paper bag out of his back pocket and held it out.

Inside was a toy crane, yellow, with a tiny red bulb on the tip that blinked when you pressed the base.

I stared at it.

"I bought it Thursday night," he said. "At the gift shop, before they told us."

"Gabe."

"She said it blinked at her the whole time. I thought if she woke up she might like to count it with a small one."

I pressed the base with my thumb.

The red light blinked once, and again, on the dark wall of the kitchen.

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