I sat on the couch, stared out the window at the peeled off layers of autumn: leaves hustled by wind. The seven of us sat down together for lunch. Salads, quinoa, soup. Oreo's dipped in chocolate. French bread with butter. A culmination of whatever we ordered together in a snap and Nicole picked up for us. I had a tiny piece of each cupcake before deciding on coconut as my favorite. They left for after school pickup. Dishes packed into the sink. Toys mixed and spread across the floor. I walked away. From the soup recipe I jotted down and the raspberry lemonade and any sort of pull toward the kitchen. I walked past the living room and sat down in my car to write about our unbirthday lunch in my story.
