“I want to stay.”
They’re the exact words I want to hear. I waste no time helping her from the car, and we make our way up to my apartment. Percy meows loudly as soon as I push the door open.
“Hey, little man,” I say, bending down to give him attention, but he goes right past me and jumps into Chloe’s waiting arms.
“Hi there,” she coos, nuzzling her nose against his. “Did you miss me, Percy?”
Meow.
He snuggles into her more, and the scene makes my heart ache because we could have had this all along. We could have been a family. We—no. I have to stop thinking about the what-ifs. That’s not our reality, and it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not like we can get those years back. All we can do is move forward.
I shove all those thoughts away as I take off my shoes, then move to the kitchen. I grab Chloe the Diet Coke she never got at the bar and a water for myself. I take an ice pack from the freezer, and without even having to ask what I need, Chloe makes her way to the couch. I join her there, noting that Percy sits in her lap instead of mine, and I cue up something on the TV just for background noise.
“Oh my god, are you seriously still watching this show?”
“What?” I ask innocently, setting the ice pack against my knee, and though it’s cold, it feels damn good against the bruise that’s already formed. “It’s a comfort.”
“How many times have you seen it now?”
“I’m not sure you want to know the answer.” I hit play on the last episode I was watching, and the faces of Claire and Phil Dunphy fill the screen. “I love this one.”
“Is it the one where they catch their parents doing it?”
I grin at her phrasing. Even after we were married for many years, Chloe was still always so nervous when it came to talking about sex.
“Yep.‘Caught in the Act.’ An absolute classic.”
She rolls her eyes, but she wiggles down further into the couch, getting comfortable. Out of habit, I reach over and grab her legs, pulling them onto my lap.
“Oh, that feels so good,” she says as I press my thumb into the arch of her left one. “I can’t remember the last time I had a foot rub.” Her eyes fall closed. “I forgot how exhausting games can be. I don’t know how you do it all the time.”
“Because I love it, Clover. Now rest.”
She doesn’t argue, and that’s how we stay—me rubbing her feet,Modern Familyplaying in the background, and Percy purring away. It’s the perfect night, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“No, no. Don’t. Please. Stay. Just stay,” I beg, reaching for her.
She shakes her head, backing away until she’s just out of my reach. “I can’t. I have to go.”
“But…why? I don’t understand why. Just tell me.”
“Because—”
A loud roar, almost like a train going far too fast, rushes through my head, and I can’t hear anything else she says, even though I’m desperate to.
“Chloe?” I call out as the distance between us grows. “Chloe!”
But it doesn’t matter how many times I shout her name. She slips farther and farther away, everything behind her falling into shadows and darkness until there’s nothing left at all, and it’s just me staring into the abyss.
“Chloe!” I yell again. “Come back! Please! Clover!”
“Callum!”
My eyes fly open, and Chloe stands over me, her eyes wide and filled with worry. It’s dark, and it takes me a moment torealize where I am and why my wife is hovering over me, why my heart is hammering inside my chest harder than it ever has before, all playoff games included.
“I was dreaming.”
Chloe frowns. “I kind of figured. Are you okay?”
