When I arrived at Madeline's house, I was greeted with the usual giddy hug and kisses I was used to. She was especially full of squeals this time, given the huge bouquet I arrived holding. After handing the birthday gift to her, I pulled out my anniversary gift and she went silent.She set the bouquet down on the table just inside the door. Before she even took the other gift, her hand was already at her mouth."Happy anniversary," I said, handing it to her.She smiled even as her eyes welled up and she reached for it. I hoped the fact that I wasn't down on a knee was heads-up enough before she got too ahead of herself about what it might be. She opened the box and her hand was back over her mouth. "I know it's not much, Peanut," I said with a wince. "But it's just a promise ring. A promise that someday I'll have so much more to offer you."With her face already crumbling and her sweet brows pinching tight, she took it out of the box, but I reached for it so I could slip it onto he

The twins, like my brother Nolan, were officially high-school graduates now. Although Nolan had had his GED for months. When he left to do his internship, he switched to doing school online and finished that way. We'd talked about taking a road trip to Chicago this summer before Maddie started college in the fall to check out some of the art museums there, but just after she graduated, she was temporarily promoted. While she'd already told her boss she'd be quitting once she started school, she was asked if she'd stand in as the store manager at the Little Caesars where she worked at for a few weeks while they found a full-time replacement. Madeline was actually a little excited about it. She was already a shift manager, so she knew she could handle the added responsibility, but she was more excited about getting our dream going.So, our road trip would have to wait a few more weeks, which was fine. Only drawback to her temporarily higher-paying position was she was putting in a lot m

"She didn't answer," Nolan said, only making my already beating wildly heart, thump harder."Fuck!" I said, running my fingers through my hair, and tried Madeline again. "Come on, Maddie," I said, lowering my voice. "Answer your phone, baby.""Why?" Nolan asked; then his eyes went wide as he watched me pace with the phone at my ear. "You think maybe . . .""Check that local news group on Facebook," Xavier suggested, and Nolan got right on it.I walked over to Nolan because at this point I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I wouldn't be able to concentrate now on anything until I heard from Madeline. "Did they say anything else about the accident, Dad?" I asked as Nolan scrolled through his screen."No, Hijo. The guy just said he heard it was a bad accident.""Here it is," Nolan said, and everyone's attention was on him now.He skimmed quickly, reading out loud through the post about it, skipping over everything that didn't give us any facts."A single-car accident involving a

The only reason I didn't shake my head adamantly and argue was because this was my father. He should've been part of the reason why I needed to move on. "It's okay to grieve, Hijo. You should. Take all the time you need. I lost your mama and felt those deep, deep feelings of despair too, but I won't sit here and say I know what you're going through. This is your grief. No two people are the same, and so no two people will grieve the same way. It may take you months, years, to heal. All I can promise you is, in the end, it will happen. Trust me. I know." He took a deep breath and sat back. "When your mama passed, I, too, had moments of feeling like I just wanted to die. Mind you I had four little boys who were counting on me to be there for them and those thoughts still crossed my mind. Don't let those feelings make you feel weak. They're perfectly normal. Accept them; just please don't act on them. They will pass, and little by little the memories will be what you'll live for." He hugg

Dr. Windward continued to jot something down on her tablet before looking up at me. "When she touches her heart and then yours, what do you think that means?"I frowned because I hated when she turned shit around on me. I was there for her to explain this to me. With a shrug, I shook my head. "I don't know. Something about our hearts being one maybe? Or that I still own her heart the way she'll forever own mine?"She nodded but gave no indication of whether she agreed with my interpretation or not. "The day of the incident in your backyard, it was your heart that ached. You said it did as much as the day she passed.""Not just the day but the days, weeks, and months that passed," I explained, feeling a little annoyed. "It'd only just begun to numb, and then that happened. It was like a reminder that the pain would forever be there, and that's when the new dreams began.""Do you think maybe you're feeling a little guilty that the pain is beginning to lessen?"I shook my head. "I've