Page 91 of Unforgettable

It’s a nice change. A welcome change. One that I can’t help but wish Reeve was here for.

“Okay,” my father announces. “I believe my grandson is waiting for me to teach him how to play chess.”

Standing, he looks down at me and gestures for me to get up. I do as he says, and the second I’m on my feet, he pulls me into a tight embrace. “I’m so proud of you, Oz, and I’m so very, very sorry we made you feel otherwise,” he says gruffly.

He moves back, and my heart squeezes at the sight of unshed tears in my father’s eyes. “I love you, Dad.”

Inhaling deeply, he squeezes my shoulder. “I love you too, son.”

I turn to find my mom wiping her own tears as she watches us. “Do you want a hug too?” I ask.

She tugs at my hand. “Not yet. I want you to sit down with me first.”

“This”—she raises her cell— “is amazing. And I can’t wait to see how you make it grow and how it all flourishes. But I want to talk to you about Reeve.”

Sagging back into the chair, I sigh. “There’s nothing to talk about, Mom. I’m here and he’s not.”

“That boy loves you, Oz.”

My chest aches at her words, because every part of me knows he does. There was no mistaking what I felt between us, especially not after Dixie’s wedding. But it wasn’t enough.

Iwasn’t enough.

And like a lost little boy, who has no idea on what to do next, I bury my head in my hands and cry for the first time in a long time in front of my Mom.

She rubs her hand up and down my back. “It’s okay,” she soothes. “Everything will be okay.”

When the tears subside, I find the strength to raise my head and meet my mother’s eyes. “I didn’t expect it to hurt this much,” I admit.

“I know, honey, but unfortunately, the saying ‘love is pain’ is sometimes true.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I tell her honestly. “I don’t know how to move on.”

“You just put one foot in front of the other, and the days get easier,” she advises. “But moving on isn’t necessary.”

My face contorts in confusion. I must’ve heard her wrong. “What did you just say?”

“I said you don’t need to move on,” she says confidently. “Give him time, but I promise you that boy is coming back to you.”

I wish, right here and now, that I was actually the little boy of my youth who believed everything his mother said, because I want to believe she’s right. Believe that I don’t have to live a life without him, believe that, in the not-so-distant future, he’ll come back to me.

“I don’t know, Mom. I don’t think he’s coming back.”

“You both might have thought it was fake, Oz, but the way he looked at you was always real.” Leaning over, she presses a kiss to my cheek. “And you, my gorgeous son, are worth coming back for.”

23

Reeve

“So that’s what we’re doing now?” Callie asks, walking into my room. “Just sleeping all day?”

I turn my head to face her, steering my gaze away from the ceiling I’ve been staring at for the last three hours.

“I’m not asleep,” I say dryly.

“You’re not really doing much of anything,” she muses.

If it’s a dig at me, I hardly feel it. I don’t feel much these days except numb. Stupid, heartbroken, and numb.

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