Has it been so long

Before I compose today, i want to apologize to my loyal friends. All three of you. You read more of this stuff then my own partner does...he lives with me.

So I'm going to post a bit of fiction today, built around the line: Nobody has ever loved me as much as I loved him.

Understand that my life is in a bit of flux these days. Work is still as stifling as ever to my creative soul, so I learn to cope with that, I'm sure I'll get to here once and a while.

On the show.

Grace pulled hard on the frame causing the picture to not come down, but to merely rotate slightly on it's hook. She sighed and pulled at Frank's picture again. In it, he had put the boys to bed and was holding a finger up to his lips in a sign of silence. The expression was of the hidden glee a person experiences when all responsibilies are removed. He was enjoying the silence and wanted it to continue for some reason.

And Grace had snapped the picture.

The dust did not move from the once top-now side until her left hand joined the right and pulled the image from its perch.

The dust had also left a obvious square there. Frank hated the color orange, yet he picked that hue for this room. So even with the picture removed, his presence surrounded her. She threw the picture down on the ground and ingorned the ping of the glass escaping from the pane.

"No one ever loved me as much as I loved him," she said to the dog. Frank had chosen the dog, her only companion now at home. The kids had returned to college since the wake; her sister was handling some other business in town around the family lawyer. The dog was prone, but not sleeping and watching her every move. Frank worked with the beast extensively since he was adopted. The dog always kept an eye on her,even at night. She blamed the attention on the creature's need to be a herding canine. She doubted Frank's capacity to actually train a dog to watch her constantly.

She left front door open and stepped upon the deck, the wood a lightened, unobtrusvie red.

She knew Monday she would have to actually find a job. She'd not been to an interview in over 15 years. She supposed she'd be okay for a while, if she didn't want to go. But her sister was insistent. Her kids were too.

She heard the lawnmower approach the corner of the deck and stepped back without thinking to the front door, avoiding any shooting dead grass or gas smells. The dog stopped her from going in.

On the lawnmower, Tye stretched before moving on. The heat of the machine, moreso then the slightly gray day, had encouraged him to remove his shirt to the tank beneath. When he saw Grace watching, he started to reach for his red tshirt out of a sense of decorum. "I'm sorry Mrs. Blakely," he said while looking for the neck-hole.

"Mrs?" She smiled to herself. That was going to have to change too.

"I, I, didn't see you standing," find where to put his head, he removed his baseball cap.

"I don't have money to pay you," she lied.

"It's okay, Mrs. Blakely, it's okay," he paused and tugged the shirt on, "I'm paid through the end of the summer, before I head back to school."

"Ah, good. Good," she nodded thoughtlessly. "You want a drink?"

"No thanks, got one," he said pulling a bottle of water from his backpack.

"Not that," she motioned her head back to the front door. "Something stronger."

Tye shook his head no and pressed on the gas.

Grace sneered at the youth.

"No one ever loved me as much as I loved him," she said to the dog.