Page 15

After a week of watching the two loves of my life, I know that I can’t go another minute without talking to her. Holding her. Touching her.

They just left the house to go to work and school, and I need to get inside and look around. When it’s been ten minutes and she hasn’t circled back for anything—yesterday, it was her water bottle; she was always famous for forgetting something on her way out the door—I walk right out my back door, hop the fence into her yard, and stride up to her back door. There is a small trampoline out here, along with a couple of bikes and balls. Things that tell me a kid lives here.

Things that tell me that our boy has a good, fun life.

I try the handle and smile softly when I find it locked.

Good girl.

However, the deadbolt isn’t locked, and we’ll be having a conversation about that too. Not that it’ll matter. Very soon, these two will be with me all the time and they’ll be protected by my army.

Jimmying the lock takes seconds, and when I push inside, I have to stop and close my eyes because a wave of her scent envelops me and she smells the same.

My Sunshine. My amazing girl smells like apples and cherries, and fuck me, that hasn’t changed.

I’m glad that I’m alone because I have to lean my forehead against the wall to compose myself. She’s real.

Rina’s really alive and whole.

It’s like I’ve woken up from the worst nightmare imaginable.

Suddenly, I hear a car door slam out front, and I narrow my eyes as I slip into a hall bathroom.

The front door of the house opens, and I hear bustling about.

“I can’t believe he forgot it,” Rina mumbles, and her voice slides over me like honey. “I reminded him three times. He might look just like his dad, but he has too many of my traits.”

That stuns me, my head comes up, my eyes widen.

“It’s fine, who needs to be on time for work?”

I always loved it when she talked to herself.

Rina’s footsteps sound like they’re getting farther away, the front door opens and closes, and when I hear the car engine start up, I step out of the bathroom.

With a sigh, I walk into the boy’s room and grin when I see that he clearly loves superhero movies. It seems he has an affinity for Iron Man.

That was always my favorite too.

After poking around for a minute, I make my way down the hall to Rina’s room and feel my heart catch again.

Her scent is stronger back here. Her room is tidy, the bed is made, and everything has a place. That hasn’t changed at all.

I can’t resist walking over to her bed, picking up her pillow, and pressing my nose into it.

Christ, I miss you.

When I walk out to the living room, I stop cold and stare at the mantel over the fireplace. Right there, front and center, is a photo of the two of us from our wedding day. We’re both smiling big, and she’s looking at the camera, but I’m grinning down at her because I never could take my eyes off her.

There’s another frame that says Best Daddy Ever with a picture of me in it that has me swallowing hard. The rest of the photos are of the two of them. Some from when the boy was born, a few of him as a chubby toddler, and one that looks like a school photo. It must be the most recent.

Even after all this time, and everything that happened, she made sure he knows me. That I’m his dad and that I loved her.

And that tells me everything I need to know. Today is the last day that she’ll think I’m gone.

It’s evening, and they should be doing the dinner routine, but something is different. Rina’s making the boy dinner, but she changed her clothes and her hair is down. She put makeup on.

She better not do what I think she’s going to fucking do.