Goodbye

Rain poured down on the funeral, clearing all but a lone woman, Casey. She stared at the coffin covered in roses, her tears blending in with the rain.

"Why?" she mumbled to herself, clutching her silver rose necklace. "Why did you have to leave me, too? Why do you always throw yourself into harm's way? You're all I had left, and yet you can't stop yourself from running in to try and save someone! Why can't you think about yourself for once?! Or about me?!" Casey screamed fell back into an open, wet chair. She stared listlessly into the sky as the rain poured down her.

A dark umbrella cast over her head as someone sat beside her. "You're going to get sick if you stay out in the rain without proper cover," his deep voice broke through the sound of rainfall.

She glanced at him and her head shifted down. "I... don't care anymore..." I have nothing left, Casey thought.

"I'm sure things are rough right now, but I doubt whoever you were screaming at would want you sick on their behalf."

"What the hell do you know? And why are you here?"

"I know how painful it is to lose someone, and I came over from my mother's funeral when I heard you yelling."

"Oh..." Guess I disturbed him. "Sorry." She slouched in her chair more. "Don't mind me; go on with your own business."

"I can't leave someone suffering alone in the rain, especially not a woman; my mom would be disappointed in me."

"Well, I don't know you and I want to be alone, so please, go away."

"Fair enough. At least take my umbrella; I have a hood on my coat, so I'll be fine long enough to walk home." He tried to hand her the umbrella.

Casey stared at the ground, he vision wavering. Why is it so hot?

"Miss?"

She crumpled to the side towards him, huffing.

"Miss? Are you okay?" He dropped his umbrella and held onto her, gazing at her face. "Crap... I have to get you to the hospital." He lifted her into the air.

She gripped his coat with a shaky hand, her breathing ragged. "No hospitals... I can't..." Her body went limp.

"Friggin' hell," he cursed under his breath and sprinted out of the service area towards his house a few blocks down. The few stray people he passed each stared at him on his way. "Please be okay."

A wet towel fell off of Casey's forehead. She cringed and opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling above her. Her eyes went wide. "What the..." She sat up to look at the foreign bedroom and the blanket slid down. "What am I wearing?" She pulled at the giant, fresh-smelling shirt. What happened last night? Thinking back, she vaguely remembered a man approaching her at the funeral. Oh my gosh, did I go home with him? Where are my clothes?

The space on the bed beside her was empty and cold. The floors were clean, along with everything else in the room; a neatly packed bookcase; a cleared desk, outside of a framed photo of a woman and two kids, and minimal extras in the room.

The bedroom door opened and she pulled the blanket up. "You're awake?" A man with brown, shaggy hair popped his head into the room.

"You're...?" Her eyes narrowed. Is it the umbrella guy?

"Ah, right, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself yesterday before you passed out. I'm Roy," he entered with a tray in his hands.

"Casey... Why am I here? What did you do to me?" she inched back.

"You passed out and told me not to bring you to a hospital. I didn't know where you lived and my place was nearby. For reference, I didn't do anything other than take care of you."

"Where are my clothes?"

He set the tray with a bowl of oatmeal down on the nightstand. "You were soaking wet and had a fever; I couldn't leave you in that dress of yours."

Casey's jaw hung open. "So you—"

"No, no, no; I wasn't the one who changed you." He held his hands up in defence. "I got my older sister to change you." He glanced at his watch. "She's almost finished her shift at the hospital, so she'll be back to check on you soon. Do you mind if I...?" he held his hand up, aimed at her forehead.

Casey nodded.

"Seems like your fever's come down pretty well. How are you feeling? Are you well enough to eat?"

"Um, I'm a little groggy, but otherwise I'm feeling fine. So if I could get my clothes back, I can head home and be outta your hair."

"Your clothes have been cleaned and are sitting, folded on the dryer right now, but if I let you leave before my sister gets back, she's going to put me through the wringer. Please eat and rest some more."

"I just want to go..." Do I want to go home? Without grandma there, it feels so empty. No cheerful laughs. No daily hugs. No fresh veggies from the garden – which is sure to die without her. There's nothing... Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

"Oh no... What did I do? Whatever I said to upset you, I'm sorry—"

"No, it's not you..." She hugged her knees to her chest, burying her face in her legs as she cried. Ugh, I hate crying in front of people.

"It's okay to cry when you lose someone, you know? I've done so recently myself. So, um..." he hesitated and reached out to pat her on the head. "Let it all out and we can talk about it if you want to." When she didn't flinch away from him, he sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

"What are you doing?" her voice was muffled.

"Even a hug from a stranger can help with the pain. If you need to, you can think of me as a giant teddy bear."

"He he," she couldn't hold back a giggle. The tears stopped and she lifted her head. "You can let go now."

"Okay." He released her, and without thinking, wiped away her tears. They stared into each other's eyes.

"Hey, how's the patient doing?" A woman's voice came from the hallway. She entered holding Casey's dried clothes.

Startled, they scrambled away from each other.

"My, my, what was going on in here?" She smiled, looking at their flush faces.

"N-nothing," Roy mumbled, poking at the tray.

Casey grabbed at her neckline. She froze. "Where's my necklace?"

"It's on the desk. I took it off to pat it dry..." she sat on the bed, Casey's clothes still in her hands. "If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it?"

"It was my grandma's... She got it decades ago from a woman she helped who was down on her luck. They turned into best friends eventually and ended up with matching ones. I don't know her name, but I think she moved away years ago."

"Well, it's a lovely necklace, and I have one just like it," she pulled her necklace out from her shirt; a silver rose necklace.

"The same one? Are you—"

"This was our mother's necklace, which she shared matching with a special friend."

"..." Casey stared at the necklace. "It couldn't be..."

"I think it is. I think we're more connected than you'd think." She set Casey's clothes on the bed. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat more, but I got wrapped into another shift. I took a break to come and check on you." She checked Casey's pulse, breathing and temperature.

Grumble.

"Make sure our patient here eats," she got up to leave. "Oh, and you can stay here as long as you need to; Roy can sleep on the couch." With a smile, she went on her way.

"You're sister is..."

"A bossy nurse, but she's great. And she's right; you can stay here if you want. It seems as though you don't want to go home anyway."

"Well, there's nothing there for me anymore, just a painful reminder of how empty my life is without her."

Gurgle.

"Okay, I think your stomach is telling us what we should be doing," he handed her the tray.

"Thanks." She ate in silence for a few minutes. "You said you were at your mom's funeral the other day, right?"

"Yeah... She passed away at the beginning of the month. She actually..." He clutched the bottom of his shirt. "She died in a fire at her bakery—"

Casey froze with a spoon of oatmeal halfway to her mouth. "La Boulangerie?"

His head shot up. "How did you know?"

Tears flowed once again. "Because that's where my grandma died." She set the tray aside and covered her face with her hands.

"Oh no... Your grandma is the one who tried to save my mother?"

Casey nodded.

"I'm... sorry. One of the other workers was careless and a fire started in the kitchen. My mother lived upstairs and the old place was finicky, by the time she knew about the fire, she couldn't get out. From what I heard, your grandma heard her screams and ran in to help. The place collapsed before they could be saved... I'm so sorry, Casey."

She shook her head. "It's not your fault. And if your sister is right about them knowing each other, that means she didn't through her life away on someone she didn't know but rather was probably trying to save someone she saw as a daughter. I can't fault her for that," she let out a deep breath and wiped away her tears. "My parents – which includes her daughter – were seriously injured in a car crash and died in the hospital; she already lost one daughter, she was probably terrified of losing another."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"So, that's why you were so despondent?" He remembered hearing her screams from his own mother's funeral, only to find her staring at the sky as it rained on her. His own heart ached at the sight of her and before he knew what he was doing, he walked towards her.

"I... I think I'm better after finding out the truth though. I really thought she threw her life away without thinking, but that wasn't the case. That said, I still don't want to go home yet," she stared at the bowl of unfinished oatmeal as she poked at the tray. I actually feel better here than at home. She glanced at Roy.

"I agree with my sister, you know? You can stay here if you want to. We can even head to your place and pick up anything you need to stay here."

"But I'm taking your bed."

"Don't worry about me; I could sleep on the floor and be fine if I needed to."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"We also have a spare room; just need to clear out the boxes and get another bed. Until then I can sleep on the couch; much better than the floor at least."

"Funny, it sounds like you're actually fighting for me to stay."

"Because I am."

"Why?"

"Multiple reasons really. I'm a bit afraid of leaving you alone right now; I have my sister to keep me grounded, but you're not so lucky. I think my mother's and your grandmother's bond was special, and it links us in a unique way. And, I've been enamoured since the moment I saw you."

Casey's face flushed. "What? You can't mean..."

"I know it sounds bad, considering the raw anguish written all over you at her funeral, but I felt such deep emotion from you and..." He held a hand over his heart. "I don't even know how to put it. I was flabbergasted and had an overwhelming urge to hug you and protect you." Roy laughed. "I'm sorry; I don't want to scare you away."

"You haven't." He has a warm presence like grandma did.

"What I'm trying to say is I want to get to know you better."

I don't know the last time I had a conversation this long with someone other than grandma. "Me too," Casey smiled for the first time in weeks and Roy's face lit up. Goodbye grandma, and thank you for everything.