Tonight you are close to me,
I’m inside this time to pray.
Feeling everything I always knew and
All the reasons I want to stay.
A minute is forever.
A kiss left on your lips to remember.
I’m your lover, I’m your friend.
You’re mine.
You were always my lover... for a lifetime in my mind.
Growing old like this... letting go and coming back again.
Telling tales like this... of how it all began.
I’ll hold your hand and your babies—I’ll watch your children grow—And one day you’ll say, “Howdy, old chum.”
And I’ll say, “No, I’m your lover... remember? And you’re mine.”
It’s been this way forever. I’ve always been your lover... for a lifetime in my mind.
I kissed his neck from behind. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said without turning around.
After he packed up his guitar, I walked him to the door and said, “I’ll see you at the field.”
He turned to me. “Close your eyes.” He kissed me, and I put my hand on his heart the way he did fifteen years ago. We pulled away and, a moment later, he was gone.
AT THE FIELD,he cheered for Milo and exchanged a brief handshake with Lance, who ended up standing on the opposite side of the field from us. Gavin didn’t say much to me. When the game was over, he congratulated Milo on scoring two goals. I overheard him apologize for having to leave right away, and then he came up to me and said, “I gotta go. I promise I’ll call you as soon as I get to Paris.”
But he didn’t.
37.Two Months Later
GAVIN
I knew I needed to call her, but once we got to Paris, everything was chaotic. I had to meet Briel’s family and find a place for us to live. Meanwhile, she was milking the pregnancy for all it was worth. She was incapable of doing anything. I thought back to that tiny house Lance and Penny lived in when she was about to pop with Milo. She used to dance and take long walks. She shot arrows with my dad and helped build a fence in her side yard. She was just a different kind of woman. But I had to stop comparing Briel to Penny; it wasn’t fair, and it just made me an unhappy jerk.
Two months had passed since I had left. Finally, Penny broke down and texted me early one morning.
Penny: Forgot all about me already, huh?
Briel saw the text before I did. She liked to snoop. Before I even had a chance to respond, she came into the kitchen, where I was preparing breakfast, and said, “She knows manners?” She was holding my phone up, showing me the text.
“I thought we talked about this, Briel?”
“We are going to be a family now. Why this other woman going to be involved in our life?”
“She’s not ‘another woman.’ She’s my best friend. She’s like a sister to me.” Okay, that was a small white lie.
“I don’t want it going on.”
