Brooke Jennett

It had to be Jim.

Maybe he came in to check on his mom and got turned around.

But why would he flip on the light in my bathroom?

Just then, the clouds that had been covering the moon drifted away, and I was able to get a better view of the person in the yard.

It was Jim.

He took the last puff of his smoke and dropped it on the ground, crushed it under his foot, and headed back for his house.

Nothing sinister had happened exactly.

but everything felt off kilter.

Agnes was asleep.

Jim was heading back to his house.

I was okay.

I was exhausted and knew Agnes would be awake sooner rather than later.

I climbed back under the covers and crashed.

The next morning, I walked out of the room and was surprised to see Jim and Agnes up already.

He'd put her in front of the window to watch the sunrise.

He would sometimes come by in the morning and check in on her, but he usually wasn't there before I woke up.

Jim sat at the kitchen table with his hands cupped around a hot mug of coffee.

He had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

When he saw me, he shot a friendly smile.

Good morning.