I looked toward my window. Rain was beginning to fall over the city.
“Sure.”
He hung up without saying goodbye.
For the next hour, I considered every possible reason he might want to see me. None of them ended particularly well.
When I arrived, Daniel was standing beside his car, staring at the city lights. He had his hands buried in his jacket pockets, and his shoulders looked heavier than I remembered.
I walked toward him.
“What’s up?”
He didn’t turn around.
“Mom opened the bookstore.”
“I heard.”
“She’s doing well. Really well.”
“I’m glad.”
“She looks happy.”
I nodded.
Daniel finally faced me.
“Do you still love her?”
There it was.
The question I had spent three months trying not to answer, even to myself.
“Yes.”
He looked down at the wet pavement.
“Even after everything?”
“Especially after everything.”
He let out a long breath.
“That’s what I was afraid you’d say.”
