This is the last time, he told himself. The last time I will pick her up. The last time I’ll mop up puke and wash blood from her hair and have to sober up because I can’t drink while I’m keeping her from killing herself, and it’s killing me.
This is the last time, he told himself, twenty, thirty, one hundred times ago.
This is the last time, he told himself, literally lifting her off the ground.
This is the last–
He felt tears on his neck a knew there wouldn’t be a last time until she decided it was.
