Chapter 255: Elijah

December, 2018

"They're pink, my favorite color!" Brooksy told him as she held his hand, standing in the lunch line, waiting ever so impatiently to get through the line to sit at one of the too-small-for-him tables to eat lunch.

Elijah looked down at her and nodded absentmindedly. "Did your mom buy them for you when she took you school clothes shopping?" he asked, at least happy to imagine that his hard-earned money had paid for something that made his daughter happy, especially since he didn't have much more where that came from.

Even as he spoke, his mind was going'round and'round, worry eating away at him. It was December, which meant he should be coming up with a Christmas present or two for Brooksy, but his power bill was outta control this month...the whole thing made his stomach clench with panic. He'd been meaning to put an ad in the newspaper about handyman work to bring in some extra income, but life had gotten away from -