Chapter Thirteen

Kelleigh began to turn off all of the lights and trudge up the stairs. Going into her bedroom, she noticed that Delly had closed all of the drawers and closet door. But it still felt empty, just knowing that his stuff – he - wasn't there anymore.



She sat down on the edge of the bed. If she weren’t so exhausted, she would have moved the bed across the hall into the guest bedroom. If she weren’t so exhausted, she would be really pissed right now. "Maybe in the morning" she whispered as she dropped off to sleep, leaning against the headboard.



The morning sun awakened Kelleigh by shining in her eyes as she lay across the bed. She hadn't moved since she lay down, exhausted, just a few hours before.



"Ugh, my head hurts. Why does my head hurt?" Then the memory of last night came flooding back. Steve was gone, dead. Steve had a girlfriend. Steve hid money from her. Her life had changed.



Looking at the clock, she saw that she had only a half-hour to get to the funeral home. She stood up, feeling a little dizzy and steadied herself by holding onto the now mostly empty dresser. "Oh, it's got to go too." She muttered as she left the room. She wanted nothing that reminded her of Steve right now.



She showered and dressed in lightning speed. Taking a cup of coffee with her, she left for the funeral home with minutes to spare. She hoped that she would be in a better frame of mind before having to face Steve's family.



But it wasn't meant to be. As she pulled into the parking lot, Sid strode across to her. She hardly got the door open before he was in front of her. "I thought I was clear. We don't need you here."



"I am Steve's wife. I am here to make the arrangements for his funeral. I have every right to be here." Although she didn't want to be intimidated by this hulk of a man, she felt a little tremor of anxiety.



"No." He reached around her and opened the door to her truck. "You aren't needed here. Go home. We'll call you if we need anything."



Unable, and perhaps more unwilling, to fight with him, she turned and got into her pickup. To his credit, Sid gently shut the door behind her and didn't slam it as she supposed he would. Leaving his hand on the windowsill for just a moment, all he said was "I'll call you with the details." Then he strode away. Kelleigh looked but didn't see Steve's mother anywhere in sight. She didn't know whether to be relieved or angry.



As she returned home, she was no longer unsure. She was angry. Spitting angry. Everything that had occurred in the last twelve hours now exploded out of her.



She went upstairs to their room and began to tear the room apart. It was no longer their bedroom. He was no longer her husband and she refused to sleep in that room ever again.



She emptied the remaining drawers of the dresser onto her bed. She would buy a new dresser. Like a madwoman, she pushed it over to the window that faced the back yard. Yanking the window open, she turned to the dresser and measured it with her hands. It would fit. Lifting the dresser up onto the sill, she gave it a shove. With a large crash, the dresser fell to the patio below and splintered apart.



Kelleigh giggled. It felt good to destroy something, especially something of Steve's. Especially something that he had hid the picture of that, that chickie in.
Next came the bed. This she couldn't throw out the window. But she did slide it out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house. Leaving in on the sidewalk, she returned upstairs and did the same with the box spring. Again, returning upstairs, she dismantled the bed frame and carried it downstairs as well.



Returning to the room, it was nearly empty. Left were the bed stands and her grandmother's cedar chest. She went down the hallway to the guest bedroom. Luckily for her, there was another bed in there. She turned on the lights and opened the windows to air it out. It was rarely used, as they never had guests.



She went back into her old room, opened the closet, and began packing her clothes out. She slid the closet door open in the guest bedroom and haphazardly hung her clothes. A few trips later, the closet was empty. She then tugged, pulled, and pushed her grandmother's cedar chest out of the room, down the hall and into the new room. Returning one last time, she took a long look. Anything that she cared about was in the other room. She closed the door and locked it. She wouldn't need to go in there again.



Finished with her tantrum, she returned to her new room and began to organize. She put her clothes away in the dresser and reorganized the closet. She stripped the bed and took the sheets down the laundry room. As the room had never been used, the sheets were a little musty.



While she was in the laundry room, Delly came in. "Kel? Where are you?"



"I'm in here Delly. Just a minute." Kelleigh came into the living room smiling.



"You're smiling, that's something. How'd the morning go? What did Steve's family say? You didn't call."



"Sid wouldn't let me go into the funeral home. He sent me home."



"He what? He had no right to do that! What did you do?"



"I came home. I realized that I was relieved not to have to go through the motions of being the grieving wife. Everything changed last night. I was almost happy to let them take care of it."



Delly was listening to her then something caught her eye. "What is that?" She pointed out onto the patio.



Kelleigh broke out into a giggle. "That's Steve's dresser. Or, was Steve's dresser."



Walking to the patio door, Delly turned back to her. "What did you do?"



"I threw it out the window. It was symbolic."



"You what?" Delly stood there, shocked and silent. Finally, she started laughing.



"My bed is out on the sidewalk."



Delly shook her head. "No, it's not. It wasn't there when I pulled in."
Kelleigh laughed. "Well, that's done then. It didn't take long for someone to come get it."



"What did you do?" Delly was still looking at her, shocked.



"Come upstairs and see." Kelleigh lead her upstairs. At the top of the stairs, Delly instinctively turned toward their room. "No, it's over here now." Delly followed her down the hallway.



"I moved out of that room. This is my bedroom now." Kelleigh gestured as if a model at an auto show.



"You've lost your mind." Delly replied, shaking her head.



"No, I got pissed. I had to do something productive with that anger. This is better, yes?"



Again, Delly laughed at her. "Yes, this is better. It's a very productive use of your anger, I must say. Do you feel better?"



"Yes, I do. I'm sure that the anger will return or sadness but that's okay. I'll just clean out another room."



Delly smiled and slung an arm over her shoulders. "Want to go out to dinner? Let's get out of here."



"Sure. Let's go. Hey, wait. What did you do with the money we found?"



Dally slipped a hand into her pocket and drew out a slip of paper. "I put it in the bank, it's in your account. I didn't want to take the chance that you would do something stupid with it. Like burn it. Now, I'm glad I did just that."



Kelleigh took the deposit slip and left it on the dresser. "Thanks Delly. For everything." She felt tears begin to well in her eyes at her friend's kindness.



"Oh come on. Let's go get dinner before you get all weepy on me." Delly took her by the hand and tugged her downstairs.