Page 153 of Romeo

I’d have to explain Billy. The foster home. Being kicked out. Sleeping wherever I could while I was pregnant because admitting I needed help had felt more frightening than being alone.

Then Charlie.

Giving birth without anyone who loved me standing there.

Choosing Claudia.

Signing papers because loving my son meant admitting someone else could give him more than I could.

I knew I’d made the right decision.

I also knew I could still remember exactly what it felt like watching Claudia pick him up and walk away with him.

Both things could be true.

Jasper deserved to know that.

What I didn’t know was whether I could survive seeing his expression change once he did.

My phone buzzed against my chest.

Jasper: Honest question.

I frowned at the screen. Jasper’s honest questions had a habit of finding whatever thought I was trying hardest to avoid.

Me: Those are usually dangerous

Jasper: Do you want kids someday?

For several seconds, I did nothing but stare at the words.

Kids.

Of course that would be tonight’s question.

My fingers hovered over the keypad. The obvious answer was that I already had one, but Charlie’s story wasn’t something I could drop into the middle of a text conversation and hope the rest sorted itself out.

Still, Jasper was asking about a future.

Maybe not ours specifically.

But after months of him slipping me into hypothetical Sunday mornings, pretending I couldn’t hear what lived underneath the question would’ve required more denial than I had left.

Me: That was unexpected

Jasper: You don’t have to answer.

There it was again.

The open door.

He asked, but he always left me somewhere to go if the answer felt too difficult.

I didn’t want to take it this time.

Me: I think so.

Jasper: Think so?