All I needed for another day

 "Oh, she's pretty," Alfie said about Zoey. "But I think something is going on with her and Dan."

Alfie said nothing more. It was as if he wasn't that interested in this girl he'd been texting nonstop. Gage just looked at him as if Alfie was going to get into something he'd regret.

"Well, I'm not seeing Oakley, am I?" Alfie looked up at him as if he knew exactly what he was thinking.

Gage was tired. He didn't want to really talk about anything. As it was, they were desperate at the Post Office. It was easy to get in. Evidently. He wasn't sure he did all that good on the test, but the guy down the street who was a postman told him to only go for City Carrier positions,he'd get a uniform that way. So he did. And he lucked out. Evidently. He'd already started training which was for the rest of the month. He would be subbing sometime in March on different routes. 

"It must be like being in the Army, I bet?" Alfie made light of it.  Gage rolled his eyes at the matter. Some February this had been. It would be over before he knew it, but at least Nora was keeping Alec company. He felt fortunate about that. 

She bought Gage a new thermos for Valentine's day. Which he guessed he was pleased with. Of course, he forgot to get her anything. He'd been so busy, but Alec made heart-shaped cookies with her and they'd gone to see a movie.

It really made him sad, but he was dragging. She'd made him get his flu and Covid shot before he started working at the Post Office. Maybe that was why he felt so blue. Probably not. Honestly, he didn't know what this feeling was. And now Alfie had Zoey, practically at the snap of his fingers.

He shook his head. He'd never had it quite so simple.

"Why is that?" Nora had asked earlier in the evening while Alfie was out.

"I guess I was a troublemaker back then," he nodded about it, feeling numb about some of the things he'd done in the past. "For a while, I felt I didn't come from anything good so why even think it, you know."

"Not you," she had a sweet laugh about it as if she'd always thought of him being perfect.

"I messed up a lot of people's lives, when I think back about it."

"You give yourself a lot of credit," she told him over hot cocoa and the last of the Christmas caramels she got on sale at the drugstore. After all, there were Girl Scout cookies to think about.

"I should have gotten in trouble more, but I didn't," he admitted. "And then it was just a rush when I met Alec's mom. She was just visiting a friend for Christmas. I didn't even know she was pregnant until she went back to England and her friend told me." He sighed about the matter, thankful that Alec was playing with his cousins at their house. "Funny, how my cousin was there for me, after it all happened. I mean, we weren't really friends then, but if it weren't for him, I dunno I might still be up to no good."

"But you found me, didn't you?" Nora smiled as if she'd whip into shape. All he had to do was listen.