Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Timothy arched an eyebrow, staring irritably at the razor in his hand.

"Whatever. I'll just make do."

After Henry got up, father and son sat down together for breakfast.

Henry had barely tasted his chicken noodle soup before he grimaced and called out, "Mom, did you put too much salt in this?"

No answer.

He tried again, a little louder. "Mom?"

Timothy replied calmly, "Stop calling, your mom isn't home."

Immediately, Henry tapped at his smartwatch, trying to call Jessica, but her phone was switched off.

Lowering his voice, Henry said, "Dad, do you think Mom's upset and ran away?"

"She didn't."

With both him and their son at home, Timothy was certain Jessica wouldn't just leave.

"Good. I still think Mom's breakfasts taste better, though."

Neither of them really enjoyed the meal that morning; it just didn't compare to what they were used to.

"Dad, last night Mom made Miss Sheila so mad she left. Is she coming to see me today?"

"She twisted her ankle and is in the hospital. She probably won't be able to visit today."

"Oh no, Miss Sheila hurt her foot? That must really hurt. Dad, can you call school

firm. "No.

daring to push further, and mumbled, "Can I go

"That's fine."

slid off his chair, ran over, and flung his arms around

After school, come pick me up early, okay? So we can go

stood up, personally taking him

came into the master bedroom with her cleaning supplies. Normally, Mrs. Williams took care of the room herself, so it was already spotless. Mabel couldn't understand

the window to let

the place was immaculate, she still methodically wiped

the wind was

the bed, a cancer diagnosis letter was pushed even

had returned to her

she'd tidied up the house, the sun was

she finally turned off her phone, wanting nothing more than

was just the relief of having nothing to worry about for once, but

her phone back

chimed nonstop with

calls,

figured Mabel was probably

the past, she'd have called

just let it

also two bank notifications-Timothy had transferred her

let out a bitter, humorless laugh. He needed her out of

her two messages-one from the morning,