Page 111 of The Dating Pact

“Brooke told me she loves you.”

“Did she?” I tried to keep the shock out of my voice. “When you talked to her?”

He nodded. “She said…”

I noticed his cheeks bloomed red as he blinked a lot. Yep, he was going to cry. I grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter and put it on the table. Because Sebastian hated when people noticed him crying. So, I pretended he wasn’t.

“She said she was proud of me.”

I scooted my chair closer to his, allowing me to rub his back. “Are you upset about that?”

He shook his head. “I liked it.”

“Okay, well, that’s good. That?—”

“I feel like I shouldn’t like it.”

It took me a minute, but I got it. I understood.

“I get it. You’re feeling guilty?” I guessed, and when he answered with a tip of his chin, I went on. “I loved your mother for a long time, a really long time, and it took me a while to realize I can still love her and have fun doing things I want to do. I can still love her and love other people. Even though Mommy’s not here anymore, you still like to hang out with me, right?”

He picked up the tissue to blow his nose and nodded.

“And I’m pretty sure you still love me, right?”

He laughed, nodding once more.

“You can love other people and still love Mommy. You can live your life even though she’s not here, and you know what?” I waited until Sebastian met my gaze to continue. “Mommy would want you to. She wouldn’t want you to always be sad about her and always hold back from doing what you love to do. I think if your mom could talk to you right now, she’d tell you that she’s happy you talked to Brooke, and she’d tell you she’s proud of you. And if she can’t be here to tell you that herself, I’m sure she would want other people to tell you that, including Brooke.”

I ran my hand over the top of Sebastian’s head a few times. “It’s okay to like hearing it. It’s okay to want hugs from Brooke. It’s okay to like hanging out with her. You’re not betraying Mommy. You’re not hurting her feelings. I know that because I felt that way for a long time too, and I had to learn that just because I love someone else doesn’t mean I love her less. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. Makes sense.” He nibbled on his lower lip. “I like Brooke.”

I smiled, cuffing him lightly on the side of the head. “Me too.”

“Do you love her?”

“Yeah, buddy, I do. I love Brooke. I love her like you love Mackenzie Dooling.”

He pushed my hand away. “I do not!”

I sat back in my chair, satisfied we’d made it over that hump relatively painlessly. “If you say so.”

He scratched at a divot in the table with his index finger. “I was thinking that maybe we should go see her.”

“You want to go see Mackenzie?” When he shot me a glare, I held my hands up in innocence. “You want to see Brooke?”

“She told me she wants to play Go Fish with all of us, me, you, Lulu, and her.”

I crossed my arms, assessing him. He seemed clear-eyed and, even more, clearheaded. “You ready for that?”

He nodded, his knee bouncing. “Yeah. I think…” He shrugged. “I think it could be fun. I mean, Go Fish is stupid, but whatever. Amelia likes it.”

“Amelia does like it,” I said and swiped my palm over my mouth and beard. “And you’d be okay doing this more than once? Us hanging out all together?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, or, like, if you wanted to go out on a date or whatever.”

“Oh.” I waved my hand with a flourish, bowing my head. “Thank you for the permission. I’ll remember this when you want to, like, go out on a date or whatever.”

---