Page 5 of Forgotten Romance

“Hey, I thought this would be a good thing.”

“Yeah, I know,” he mutters. “That’s the problem.”

My good mood crashes. “You don’t want me here?”

He opens his mouth but snaps it shut again. “It’s fine. We’ll be fine.”

“Fine?”

“And this is a picture I did of a reindeer!” Kiera shrieks, holding up a scribbled body that almost looks like it could be some kind of animal.

“Wow,” I say as Mack disappears into the kitchen. “How did you get so talented?”

“Lots and lots of practice.”

I hand over the little car I’m playing with and kiss her on the hair. “Play with Van for a minute?”

She drops down onto the carpet, and I go through to where Mack is gripping the edge of the sink.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t wanna …”

“Mack, come on.”

He shakes his head. “You’ll feel bad.”

“Yeah, well, thinking my hu—you don’t want me around is sort of already doing that.” I watch as he takes a deep breath and lets it out before turning to me.

“They’re always so upset when you leave. And that’s after only a few weeks. What will months be like?”

Well, way to make the guilt hit hard.

“What are you saying? Do you want me to leave?”

He looks horrified. “Of course not.”

“Then move out, or … is it going to be too hard for you?”

“No, I don’t want you to go.”

“Then what is it?”

He gives me those big, sweet puppy dog eyes that never fail to melt me. “I don’t want you to go.”

And there it is. The one and only problem between us that ended up being too big to fix.

“Yeah,” I say, rubbing my knuckles over a knot in the wooden kitchen cabinet. “Some days, neither do I.” He lights up, and I hurry to continue. “But I have to. You know that.”

“Right.”

We linger in a prolonged silence.

“It’s bedtime,” he finally says. “You want to do the story?”

2

Mack

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