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“Brant?” June sits up straight, her hair a mess of static.
Thank goodness.
I race to her bedside, falling to my knees and taking her hand in mine. “Junebug…I’m sorry I was late.”
She studies me in the dark, her eyes sad. “I waited up for you.”
“I’m really glad you did. Do you forgive me?”
“I guess.” She shrugs. June pulls Aggie closer to her chest, wrapping both arms around him. “Did my birthday wish come true?”
My insides clench. Her innocent nine-year-old wish thunders through me, wreaking more havoc than it should.
It warms me, too.
It warms me because little girls should be wishing for roller skates, or a new bike, or dolls that talk and cry. They shouldn’t be wishing for things like my mother coming back.
But she wished it for me, and that’s everything.
Sweeping my hand over her forehead, I smile softly. “That wish can’t come true, June. When people die, they don’t come back. It was really nice of you to ask it, though.”
“What’s the point of wishes, then?” She frowns.
“Well…I’m not really sure. They give a lot of people hope, I guess.”
“I’d rather that they just come true.”
“Yeah.” I chuckle lightly. “Me too.”
June looks up at the ceiling, her racing thoughts twinkling in her eyes. “Brant? If that wish won’t come true, can I wish for something else?”
“Sure.”
“Okay…I wish that we can be together forever.”
“Forever, huh?”
She nods, picking at one of Aggie’s worn ears. “Forever and ever. That one will come true, right?”
I hope so, Junebug.
And sometimes, hope is all we have.
“I bet it will,” I say, kissing her on the temple and rising to my feet. I turn to leave the room, pausing in the doorway to whisper two final words into the dark. “Happy birthday.”
I bet you’re wondering if June’s wish came true.
I’d love to tell you that, but it would spoil the ending of the story.
And to understand the end, you need to know the middle.
I’ll warn you, though—it’s not a pretty middle. It’s messy and complicated and at times soul-crushing beyond comprehension.
I’m going to fast-forward three more years, to a snowy afternoon in December. I still think about that day, even after all this time. It still haunts me. It still keeps me up at night.
It was the day I feared June’s birthday wish was lost forever…
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