“It was the month that we lost our first daughter,” he rasped, pain in his voice.
“Oh,” I breathed.
Another memory niggled.
One of pain and fear. Anguish.
Again, gone before I could dig into it fully.
“I think we need to go with Mae,” he admitted. “But that month didn’t only have bad. It had a lot of good.”
If I wasn’t already married to this guy, I’d definitely say he was marriage material.
He was so sweet.
And big, like a teddy bear.
He also gave the best damn hugs.
I bent down and ran my fingers over the writing on the Post-it Note. “We have two more months, right?”
“Less than.” He shrugged.
“Then we have time.”
Twenty-Five
I have to say weird stuff or I’ll die.
—Nettie to Eddy
Nettie
I woke from my nap with a start, my mind latching onto a memory this time and holding on tight.
The dream/memory was of a time when I was much, much younger.
So was Boone.
It was when we’d started dating, I’d decided.
He was in his truck turned toward me. He was holding a plastic bracelet in his hand that he twirled around his fingers. Back and forth. Back and forth.
His eyes were so soft and warm as he asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?”
I’d said yes.
I’d actually said yes quite a few times and thrown myself at him.
When I woke, he’d kissed me for the first time.
That warmth was in my heart as I sat up and stretched my arms over my head.
The beep of a phone had me glancing at the phone that was plugged into the charger next to the bed.
A phone that Boone had plugged in for me as he’d shown me into this room and ordered me to sleep.
He’d stayed on the side of the bed, running his fingers over my back in a soothing way, until I’d fallen asleep.
