I just cried.
My daughter climbed into my lap.
Then wrapped both arms around my neck.
“I know Daddy wasn’t really at the party.”
I pulled back and looked at her.
“What?”
She touched my cheek.
“I just miss him.”
That broke me all over again.
“I miss him too.”
Rachel sat beside us.
She took my hand.
And for the first time since Daniel died, I did not feel as though my only options were to remain frozen or replace the life I had lost.
Daniel was gone.
Marcus loved him.
Marcus cared about us.
Maybe part of him loved us too.
But none of those truths meant I had to step immediately into the future Marcus had imagined.
Sophie and I needed our own ground first.
Our own routines.
Our own choices.
Our own life.
I didn’t know whether Marcus would ever become part of that life again.
