“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. She followed him everywhere.”
“I did not.”
Ben raised an eyebrow.
“You absolutely did.”
Suddenly, I remembered.
Adam running down the sidewalk while I chased him.
Ben laughing from our driveway.
My brother buying me another ice cream after I’d dropped mine.
Strawberry shortcake.
The memory came back so clearly that my eyes filled.
Ben noticed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
I wiped my cheek.
“Don’t be.”
For years, I’d thought forgetting was the same thing as healing.
Standing beside that ice cream truck, I realized how much I’d lost by refusing to look backward.
Not just Adam.
Pieces of myself too.
I handed Ben the photograph.
He shook his head.
“Keep it.”
“It belongs to you.”
“Your mother gave it to me because she wanted someone to keep an eye on you.”
He looked at Ellie.
“I’d say that job isn’t mine anymore.”
Ellie smiled.
I turned the photograph over again.
