“You’re so right,” Angie replies, a serene smile gracing her lips. “What else do yousee?”
Emmy tilts her head one way, then the other, eyes squinting as she assesses the blue sky above. “A feather!”
“That’s a good one.” Angie presses her cheek to the top of Emmy’s head. “Look at that! The space between those clouds looks like a heart.”
It takes a moment, but Emmy’s face lights up when she finally spots it. “Wow.”
A quiet descends between them with only the distant sounds of home to fill the gap. Wind rustling in the trees, a quiet but far-off whinny, stomping hooves, and chickens pecking the ground. I’ll never grow tired of the Whispering Oaks soundtrack.
“Sometimes Daddy talks to the sky,” Emmy says. “He tells me he’s talking to Mama Jessie. Do you know Mama Jessie?”
There’s a shift in the air—subtle but unmistakable. Angelina’s expression goes from wonder to melancholy. You wouldn’t notice it unless you’d studied her.
“I do. She’s my best friend. I like to talk to her sometimes, too.”
“What do you tell her?” Emmy’s little voice lights up with curiosity.
“I tell her how much I love and miss her. Sometimes I tell her exciting news or stories about my life. And sometimes I tell her about you, Emmy Lou. About how much you’ve grown, and how kind and beautiful and smart you are.” Angie swipes at her cheek, so fast that if you blink, you’d miss it.
“Could I talk to her?” Emmy asks.
“Of course you can. What would you tell her?”
Emmy rolls onto her belly and plucks a daisy out of the grass. “Dunno. Maybe about Sissy and Mama.” She starts plucking one petal at a time.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Angelina chokes out.
My eyes turn misty, and I cough to clear the sudden tightnessin my throat. The sound draws their attention, two sets of beautiful eyes staring back at me from a distance.
“Uncle Griff!”
Emmy squeals and darts toward me. I bend and catch her, tossing her into the air as she lets out a high-pitched giggle.
When she comes back down, she grabs my cheeks between her hands and rubs her nose against mine. “Wanna come look at clouds with Auntie Lina and me?”
I chance a look over at the woman in question. She’s propped on her elbows, her brown eyes sparkling in the midday sun. Angie is gorgeous in a way that punches you in the gut and forces you to take notice. She’s also my best friend’s fiancée now, and I shouldn’t be noticing her at all, even if she belonged to me for a fleeting moment in time. My thoughts drift back to a series of images from the weekend we spent together. It wasn’t just a joining of our bodies like I intended at first. I bared my soul and made so many promises back then—promises of a future that would never come to be.
Emmy’s quiet voice brings me back onto solid ground. “Uncle Griff?”
“Sorry, Em. I would love to.”
I carry Emmy back to the quilt and set her in the middle, then I take the open spot next to her and fix my gaze on the sky instead of on the intoxicating woman on the other side of the blanket.
“See the duck, Uncle Griff?”
I grin and search the sky for a cloud that even remotely looks like a duck, but nothing catches my attention. I meet Angie’s gaze over Emmy’s blonde locks. She holds her index finger over her mouth and gives a subtle shake of her head.
I widen my eyes and exaggerate my excitement. “Wow! That’s so cool, Em.”
Angie rolls her lips together like she’s doing her best not to laugh.
We lie like that for half an hour, maybe longer, finding shapes in the clouds—andnotfinding them. Emmy grows quiet after a while, and I glance down to see her asleep against Angelina’s shoulder, her tiny hand wrapped around my thumb.
“Do you think she knows?” Angelina asks.
“Jess?”
“Yeah.”
