Page 103 of Now and Forever

After we eat, Eric leaves for the office. He promises he’ll be back in a couple of hours. Before he goes, he forbids me from going out in the snow, and I laugh. Marta, who’s still here, also leaves the house, and Sonia, when she finds out what happened, calls, upset, but talking to me calms her down.

Simona is worried. We watch our soap opera, but she’s constantly looking at my face. I try to make her see I’m fine.

When Flyn gets home from school, I’m in my room, sitting on the fluffy rug and talking to a group of my girlfriends on Facebook. We call ourselves the Maxwell Warriors, and we all have a crazy, fun side we love to share.

“Can I come in?” Flyn says from the doorway.

His question surprises me. He never asks. I nod. The boy comes in, closes the door, and, when I raise my face toward him, he turns white for a fraction of a second. He’s obviously scared. He wasn’t expecting to see me in a thousand different colors.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“But your face ...”

When I remember my face, I smile and try to play it down.

“Don’t worry. It’s quite a watercolor, but I’m fine.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No.”

I close my laptop.

“Can I talk to you?” he asks.

I’m glad he’s decided to take the first step and come to me about what happened.

“Of course. Come in. Sit with me.”

“On the floor?”

Amused, I shrug my shoulders. “I’m sure we won’t fall from down here.”

A smile! I almost applaud.

He sits down in front of me, and we look at each other. For more than two minutes, we don’t speak. That makes me nervous, but I’m determined to put up with his squinty gaze as long as I need to, just like I sometimes do with his uncle.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” His eyes fill with tears, and he murmurs, “Do you forgive me?”

I’m moved. Tough, independent Flyn is crying!

“Of course I forgive you, dear, but only if you stop crying, OK?” He nods and swallows his tears. To ease some of the guilt he apparently feels, I say, “It was my fault too. I didn’t have to climb up on the wall and ...”

“It was all my fault. I closed the doors and didn’t let you in. I was angry, and I ... I ... What I did was really bad, and I’ll understand if Uncle Eric sends me to boarding school like Sonia and Marta say. He warned me last time, and I let him down again.”

The pain and fear I see in his eyes tear me apart. Flyn isn’t going to any boarding school. I won’t allow it. His insecurity hits me right in the heart.

“He’s not going to find out, because you’re not going to tell him, and I’m not either, OK?”

Flyn clearly wasn’t expecting that reaction from me, and he’s obviously surprised.

“You didn’t tell my uncle what happened?”

“No, dear. I just told him I was out in the snow, slipped, and fell.”

The little boy’s shoulders relax. I just took a weight off him.

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