“It won’t be the same,” I whispered.
She shook her head. “It won’t.”
We sat, watching each other for a long while. Then, after fidgeting with her hands, she looked back up at me and opened her arms. I scooted in and held her close to me. I almost couldn’t breathe. Then the words finally fell out of me, so quietly I wasn’t sure I said them at all.
“I love you.”
Kitty nodded into my chest. “I love you, too. I always will.”
I squeezed her tighter, tucking my head into her shoulder. My lips met the side of her neck for a soft kiss. I pulled back slightly and used my hand to lift her face to mine. We paused, some pain in her eyes.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I said. “I wish I could stay. I wish I could bring you with me.”
Kitty gave a wry smile. “She needs you, Guy.”
“But I need you, too.”
Kitty’s brow furrowed like I’d shattered her heart. Her mouth met mine. Tenderly, I showed her what she was to me, in a way I couldn’t express with words at the time. Kitty was my person. I was sure of it, down to my bones. She deepened the kiss with a slant of her mouth, her tongue bringing a pastel light into the dark depths of my mind. I loved Kitty Gatto and I’d never get over it.
And that was the last kiss we had before I left for good.
Chapter 6
Kitty
Mom got the call from Guy’s grandmere as we were about to leave for a school event one September evening. Eva was going to die soon. Our whole family threw clothes in bags, got in the car with our passports, and drove through the night to be there. Mom told off the school secretary in grand fashion when she argued that we’d be penalized for missing school unplanned.
We lived on gas station coffee and roller dogs. Mom, Dad, and Frank traded off driving. It was significantly more frightening with a caffeinated Frank behind the wheel. Mom kicked him out of the driver’s seat after an hour.
When we got there, Mom went straight for Eva’s room, while Frank and Guy hugged it out. I waited my turn. No matter what had transpired over the summer, I wasn’t about to lay a big smooch on Guy. He gave me a big bear hug.
“Thanks for being here.” His breath was warm against my hair. His accent was back to being thicker again. Through the year he spent in West Virginia, it had faded some. It was back in full force.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” I whispered under his crushing embrace. An hour or so later, Mom came out of Eva’s room and ushered the rest of us in there. Guy took my hand as we went in. He was used to seeing her, but he knew I wasn’t. Eva looked about as bad as you expect someone dying of cancer to look. Her face was gaunt, her already petite frame just skin and bones. But around her eyes, I could still see the soft kindness that was her baseline mood. We all took a turn giving her hugs.
“Kitty, I want to talk to you alone,ma puce,” she said, her voice weak and crackly. I gave her a smile as everyone else shuffled out. Guy fussed over her in French before she shooed him away.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Like death,” she said, deadpan. We both laughed, not because her dying was funny, but because her honesty was. “I am so happy I got to know you, Kitty. I always wanted a little girl, and our talks last year gave me a taste of what it would be like. Thank you for that.”
“Of course,” I said. “I loved that time with you.”
She took a breath. “We talked a little about boys and matters of the heart, but I think there was something you didn’t want me to know.”
I panicked. I’d told her I had an unwarranted bad reputation, but I never told her it was Guy’s fault. I wasn’t planning on leaking that while she was on her deathbed either.
I looked at her sidelong. “What do you think that is?”
“I think you and Guy are meant for each other. And I think you know that.”
I was quiet for a moment. “I know he did you wrong, Kitty. And that you forgave him.”
I nodded. “I did.”
“I hate that he hurt you. He told me what he did and he feels terrible about it. But I really think he loves you.”
I gave a soft snort. “He told me he does.”
