Chương 9 - THE FIRST KISS
Gabe kissed Megan eleven months after the crash.
Not beside the ditch.
Not in the hospital.
Not after a dangerous confrontation.
At a grocery store.
Romance suffered.
They were arguing about cereal.
Avery wanted the one containing enough sugar to preserve fruit for a century.
Megan said no.
Gabe placed it in the cart.
Megan removed it.
Gabe put it back.
She glared.
“You are not helping.”
“I was asked.”
“By a six-year-old.”
“Still a request.”
“You are weak.”
“Accurate.”
Avery ran toward the bakery with Megan’s permission.
Gabe smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He leaned closer.
“Can I kiss you?”
Megan stared.
“Between cereal and frozen waffles?”
“Location is not ideal.”
“No.”
His face fell slightly.
She smiled.
“No, the location is terrible.”
Then:
“But yes.”
The kiss lasted five seconds.
Then an employee pushing a pallet jack said:
“You’re blocking the aisle.”
Megan laughed into Gabe’s shoulder.
Perfect.
They moved slowly afterward.
Avery came first.
Gabe's grief existed.
Megan’s own history existed too.
Her husband Mateo had died in a workplace accident.
She still loved him.
Gabe never asked her not to.
One evening Gabe said:
“Loving dead people makes dating complicated.”
Megan replied:
“Only if the living are insecure.”
He thought.
“Fair.”
They never tried to turn Lily and Mateo into stepping stones toward romance.
They were family.
History.
Loved.
Gone.
May you like
Not erased.
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