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No matter how much it hurt, I just couldn’t.
“Sweetheart?” Mom’s voice drifted through the door.
“Hey, Mom.”
She peeked around the door. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m okay.”
“Did you and Cameron work through things?”
My cheeks heated. “Actually, I’m going to head back to Michigan later.”
“Alone?” Confusion clouded her eyes.
“Cameron needs to be here.”
“I know, sweetheart. I can’t even imagine...” She perched on the edge of my desk. “But that sounds kind of final.”
“We haven’t worked out the details.”
“And you’re okay with this?”
I shrugged, dropping my gaze. “Cameron needs to be here for his family.”
“Of course he does, but—”
“M
om, I appreciate your concern, I do. But it’s done.”
“You’ll find your way back to one another. No amount of time or distance will ever change how that boy feels about you.”
God, I wanted to believe her. But I also knew there was one thing that could change everything, and it was going to happen.
“Karen isn’t going to get better, Mom.” I couldn’t hold the tears at bay any longer.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so, so sorry.”
“Life is so unfair,” I sobbed, falling into Mom’s open arms.
“Ssh, sweetheart. I’m right here.”
But as she said the words, I only cried harder, because one day soon, Cameron and Xander were going to have to say goodbye to their mom.
And Cameron would be left to pick up the pieces.
I flew back to Michigan after that. Mom and Kent gave me a ride to the airport, insisting that I call more often. They didn’t like the idea of me being in Ann Arbor on my own, but there was something strangely comforting about returning to mine and Cameron’s apartment.
It was so full of him. His Wolverine’s hoodie on the coat rack, the sports column cuttings of all his mentions stuck to the noticeboard in the kitchen, right down to the lingering scent of his aftershave.
It hurt.
It hurt so much, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.
Dropping my keys on the sideboard, I pulled out my cell phone and started a new message.
* * *
