This morning, I was awake before my phone alarm buzzed. I guessed my brain was still adjusting to the change of time zone. I looked at Derek. He was facing away from me, lying on his stomach with his arms tucked under his thighs. I could have sworn the sunlight was aiming directly at his hair, drawn to its carmine shine.
Carmine was a shade of red. Derek had been teaching me colors. All the different names they had I never knew.
Seconds later, his alarm went off and I kissed his shoulder, reaching over him to turn off the classical music. Schumann, it was. “Don’t get up,” I said. “I’m awake and I’ll get Spence ready for school and drive him, too.”
Derek was many things, but a morning person? Not so much.
“Oh, thank you,” he said, his face still stuffed in the pillow. “Don’t forget his
