Page 2 of Don't Leave Me

We spend the night stuffing our faces with pizza and watching one animated movie after another. When Bree falls asleep on the couch, I carefully scoop her into my arms and lay her in her bed. I tug the covers up to cover her tiny body and press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She’s such a sweetheart. I truly hope Rob’s disappearance doesn’t affect her in the long run. I’d hate to see her hold any sort of bitterness in her heart because of him.

“Danny, I want to talk to you,” I say softly as I reenter the living room and press pause on the movie.

“Do we have to do this?” He rolls his eyes.

“Yes.” I take a seat on the coffee table so I'm right in front of him and watch him carefully.

The walls around his heart are constructed so high and so thick. He doesn’t want to let anyone in, especially me.

“I know you’re pissed. You don’t want me here. You’d rather have your dad back and you don’t understand why he left… but you can’t keep being pissed at the world because of one person.”

“And who’s going to stop me?”

“No one. No one will stop you from being miserable, but your life will suck. Your friends will get sick of your attitude and walk away. Your mom and sister will get hurt and you’ll end up putting so much distance between yourself and them, you’ll never be able to repair your relationship with them.”

“What do you care?”

“I care because you’re my nephew and I love you. I want you to be happy.”

“Why would you love me? My own dad doesn’t give a shit about me.”

I take a deep breath and try to control my frustration. He knows he shouldn’t be cursing, but if I try to correct that right now, it’s not going to help the situation. We can deal with that another day.

“I'm not your dad. I didn’t throw away my family. I don’t know why he left or why he decided he doesn’t want to be a dad anymore, but none if it is your mom’s fault. None of it is Bree’s fault. If you need to take it out on someone, you can take it out on me, but you need to love your mom and Bree.”

I watch him carefully. He’s close to breaking down. There are tears already gathered in his eyes, but he’s fighting it.

“He walked away from them too,” I remind him.

“I hate him so much,” Danny whispers as the first tear slips down his cheek.

“I do too.”

“Why would he do this? Why weren’t we good enough?” A sob shakes his small body.

I move from the coffee table and take a seat next to him. I tug him into my arms and hold him tightly. He tries to act tough andolder than his ten years, but at the end of the day, he’s still a kid and he doesn’t understand why this is happening to him.

“This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with him. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were more than enough.”

“Who am I going to play ball with? Who’s going to coach my baseball team? Who will take me camping?” His body shakes with each question as he lets his defenses down and lets it all out.

“Me. I’ll do all of it with you and more.”

“But why? Why are you even here? Why would you move here just for us?”

“Because I love you. I’ll always drop everything for you, Bree, and your mom. It doesn’t matter what I'm doing, I’ll always be there.”

“I love you too,” he chokes out. “You’re a cool uncle.”

“Thanks.” I chuckle. “You’re a cool nephew.”

We’re quiet for a few minutes. I press play on the movie and keep my arms around Danny. He’s going to be ok if he can get past this. He needs to trust Sydney and me to be there for him. He needs to set a good example for Bree too.

Our talk is giving me hope of a better future for them. I know it’s been hard on Syd since Rob left. She was struggling with everything and that’s why I moved to Maple Springs even though I was building a life I loved in Tuft Swallow. Now, I'm determined to build a better life here.

Chapter 2

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