So King held on. And as the last dark and chilly winter days faded away, and spring broke, he felt his spirits rise. The city was slowly, tentatively, starting to blossom. Green was shyly appearing everywhere he looked, and flower buds were peeking out at the world, wondering if it was safe to come out now.
When Naomi finally called on that warm day in early April, he was at home making dinner. When he saw her name come up on his cell phone, he dropped the strainer full of rice straight on to the floor, and truly didn’t give a crap.
“Naomi.”
“Hi, Matt.” She sounded happy. “How are you?”
“I just dropped a whole package of rice on the floor.”
She paused. “Cooked or uncooked?”
“Cooked and steaming hot.”
She laughed. “Sorry to hear that.”
“How are you?”
“Good. I’m really good.” He hea
