Page 107 of Afternoon Delight

He smiled again. That was two smiles in one conversation. That had to be a Hank Comfort record.

“I brought you something.”

“You did?”

He reached into the console and lifted out a small box. I opened it and saw that it was a necklace with a firefly and a charm on it. I turned the charm over and it was inscribed. It said: A firefly shines in the darkest of nights. Never let the world dim your light.

“That was mama’s necklace. She wore it every day. I know that she’d want you to have it.”

“Really?” I felt tears well up in my eyes.

Hank kept looking forward as he drove. “I know you found your dad, but you are still a Comfort. You will always be a Comfort.”

As I put my mother’s necklace on, for the first time in my life, I felt like I finally had what I’d always wanted. A family.

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