Page 104 of The Last One You Loved
McK seemed to understand. “I’ll bring it to you.”
She left, and I toed off my boots and lay down on the bed, watching Mila breathe. My own eyes drooped as they had at the hospital. I struggled to keep awake, but it was a losing battle. The tidal wave of emotions dragged me under until there was only darkness.
? ? ?
Giggles woke me, and at first, Mila’s sweet laugh brought a smile to my lips. When my eyes slowly opened and I realized I was in my room with Mila’s nightlights glowing around us, it confused me. Then, the entire day’s events slammed back into my memories, tightening my chest, and I sat straight up.
McKenna and Mila were at the foot of the bed, a towel spread out with food all over it. Sandwiches, cookies, chips, juice boxes, and water bottles. A bed picnic of sorts.
Mila’s little face was turned up with a smile, and relief washed over me, enough that it would have made my legs buckle if I hadn’t already been sitting.
“And then, Missy said she’d never had a unicorn before and that unicorns were going to be her new favorite animal. And that I was her best friend. Do you think we’ll be best friends forever? Because you and Daddy were best friends, and then you weren’t, but now I guess you are again, right?”
Thank God…for her chatter. Suddenly, it wasn’t Mila that needed to breathe. It was me because I felt like my lungs had stopped working. McK took in my expression, lips twitching as she responded, “Even though I told you the best part of BFFs is the forever part, I think your daddy and I sort of forgot it for a while, but now we’ve remembered, and forever it is.”
Jesus. My heart wasn’t going to be able to take it.
“Whatchya doing?” I asked, and Mila turned and smiled at me, jumping up and causing all the food on the towel to shift and dump over. McKenna chuckled as Mila launched herself into my lap.
“Daddy! We’re having a bed picnic. Have you ever had a bed picnic before? McKenna says we can have a bed picnic all weekend. She even put a new station on your TV, and guess what?” She didn’t wait for my answer. “It playsScooby-Doo. As much as we want!”
“Did she now?” I said, running my hand over her hair and her arms, as if I could hardly believe she was here and whole and chattering away.
“You must be starving,” McKenna said. “Come join our picnic.”
Mila shoved herself from my lap and returned to the cornucopia of food. I eased over, stomach actually grumbling, and I picked up one of the wrapped sandwiches Rianne had left for us.
“That’s peanut butter and jelly, Daddy. You don’t want that. Remember, you don’t like peanut butter. You need this one.” Mila shoved another sandwich at me, sort of bouncing up and down on her butt on the bed. “It’s salami, and I don’t like salami. It tastes funny.” Then, she froze. “I gotta go to the bathroom…”
She took off at a dead run for the toilet.
McKenna and I exchanged a small smile.
“She’s…so amazing,” I said, staring after her.
“Resilient. Brave.”
“Just like her sister,” I said softly, and McKenna flushed. “Should we tell her about you?” I asked.
McKenna’s head tilted sideways as she considered it. “Not today. She’s had too many big things happen. I don’t want her finding out about me to be tied to this memory.”
I leaned over the food and kissed her softly before leaning back again. “Resilient, brave, smart, beautiful. The whole package.”
Her eyes lit up at the compliment, and I wondered if the ex had forgotten to tell her those things. It made me hate him a little bit more. But then I pushed him aside because he didn’t matter anymore. We were all that mattered. Us and the future we were going to build together.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
MCKENNA
FORGED IN THE FIRE
“How do I start moving on and moving past?
Stop holding on, looking back,
When God's hellbent on making me a fighter.”
Performed by Caylee Hammack
