The day Patrick was supposed to finally come home was pretty calm. I had a dentist appointment and nothing else. I reversed out of the parking lot thinking about how smooth everything had been going and that for once, there wouldn't be an issue or a problem. I drove home and I got inside. Still nothing. I was scared that I wasn't scared. I checked my phone. 5:42. Only two more hours and I'd get too see him, finally.

He's going to be pretty upset, though seeing they lost in the third round of the Finals. I thought I'd go to Kroger and buy us some snacks- something that'll hit the spot before I went to pick him up.

I didn't end up in the chips isle at Kroger, though. I was back in that room of trophies and medals reading from the journals I decided not to tell Pat about. It would kill him. He needs to be okay. I sat on the huge black chair and allowed the messily written words absorb me. They pulled me in.

It wasn't just a story or a diary. It was so beautifully written that it was almost poetic. I couldn't stop reading. There was a good hundred of them. All in order by date. They began the day my parents first met. And they were beautiful. They were. The stories my dad wrote and the things he said about my mom.

January 2,1982

Yesterday I met the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. And she was more than just easy on the eyes, she was hard on the heart. The first words she spoke to me, I felt my heart pounding. I've never been so nervous before.

She and I were both at Kevin's New Year's Party. This girl was everything. She had the body and the smile and the hair and the eyes. She had the spunk and the funk and she was groovy. And she knew good music and she loved REO Speedwagon just like I did. And she loved Journey and Styx and Foreigner. And when she and I talked about the lead singer's hairstyles, I fell in love. I fell in love with the way she laughed. I fell in love with the way she shyly explained that if he had hair like mine, then she'd for sure had crushed on him.

I know I flushed red. So I got her address and today I took her out. We went to Ryno's Disco and the bowling alley right next to it. When I took her home, her dad smiled at me as I walked her up the porch steps. He then went inside, leaving us alone. When he closed the door behind him, she turned to me squealing. She was so happy.

"What's wrong with you!?" I laughed at her. And she told me that the last time she saw her dad smile was in 72 when the Bruins won the cup. She kept saying she knew, that she just knew. And she said that my style in cars had softened him up. And she was just so happy today that she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

And she told me I looked quite adorable when I blushed. I told her I'd continue to look quite adorable as long as she kissed me. So she kissed me again and she went inside, her curly blonde locks bouncing.

I'd just started reading about their first trip to Las Vegas when I remembered Pat. I grabbed my phone. There wasn't any service in this room so I leaped up, sprinting. It was 11p.m. I couldn't believe I'd been reading for that long.

"I can't believe I forgot Pat," I said to myself as I stumbled grabbing my keys. I reached out for the silver door handle but it twisted in front of me.

Notes

Are you guys okay with the non-letter format?