Color of Loneliness Read Online Free PDF Page B

or something. Anyway, I suddenly could not breathe. I mean I was dying. I mean I felt like my circulation was being cut off. So I covertly laid my napkin in my lap and undid my belt and the button on my jeans. Who does that shit? So I not only sat there hating myself for all of the food I just hoovered, but I then wanted to kill myself because I had to get up and walk to the car with my pants undone. Yep, I could not get them buttoned back up.”
    Myra’s laughter gets interrupted by knocking on the door. She stands up and wipes tears from her eyes. “Hang on a sec,” she mumbles as she walks towards the front of the house.
    A big smile breaks out on her face when she sees the gray-haired gentleman standing at the door. “Jim. Hi, come in,” she says. She holds up her phone. “Give me just a minute?”
    Jim smiles back and nods.
    “Hey, Susie, I have a visitor. Can I call you back?”
    “Yes, but you better not forget or I’ll whoop ya.”
    Myra smiles. “I won’t.”
    She flips her phone shut and tucks it in her pocket.
    “I thought that was you I saw earlier,” Jim says as he gives Myra an affectionate hug. “What are you doing back in town so soon?”
    “Come in and have a seat. Well, first let me make a path through these boxes so we can find a seat,” Myra says, chuckling as she starts moving boxes out of the way in an effort to locate the sofa.
    “Here, let me help.” Jim jumps in and helps move the boxes around. Within minutes, they clear a path and do indeed find the sofa.
    “What are all of these boxes for?” Jim asks as he sits down.
    Myra laughs softly, shaking her head. “Well, I’m not really sure what in the world I’m doing, but I’m back. I’m moving in.”
    “Really?” Jim says, grinning. “That’s wonderful. You’ll be such a pleasure to have as a neighbor.”
    “Thank you. Can I get you something to drink?”
    “No, I’m good. Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. Do you need some help unpacking?” he asks as he looks around the room.
    Myra follows Jim’s eyes and gets a sinking, overwhelming feeling again when she thinks about the monumental task ahead of her. “Oh, no, I’ll be fine.”
    “Nonsense. This is definitely not a one-person job. Give me a knife and a box, and I’ll get started.”
    “I’m serious, Jim. I can do this on my own.”
    “Nope. Now where’s that knife?” he asks with authority in his voice and a big smile on his wrinkled face.
    Myra sighs and smiles back before reluctantly agreeing and walking into the kitchen to retrieve him a knife.
    * * *
    “I’m going to have duplicates of everything because of all of Grampie’s things, but if we can get the boxes emptied and put into the right room, I’ll go through everything later,” Myra tells Jim.
    They work quietly for a long time, getting through a majority of the boxes.
    Jim clears his throat. “You know, I’m really going to miss your grandfather. Davis was a very dear friend to me, and my only neighbor for miles around,” he says with a chuckle. “No, it wasn’t just that. We were very close.” Myra sees the pain on his face, the pain of losing a friend, someone he loved.
    She walks to the sofa and sits, patting the spot next to her. “Let’s take a break,” she says softly.
    Jim sits, resting his arm comfortably on the back of the couch. “Davis and I had so many things in common. We were neighbors for what seemed like forever, we both had just one child, and we both had careers that weren’t incredibly lucrative, but we loved what we did. And we both lost the love of our lives before we should have.” He stops talking and looks out of the window with a look of longing on his wrinkled profile.
    He slowly turns back to Myra with a sad, faraway look in his eyes. “Ah, Emma, God rest her soul. Never a day goes by that I don’t think about her. Did you know she’s been gone ten years now?” Myra nods. “She loved Davis as well; although she loved your grandma even