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“Dead,” I said.
“I take it this is notyouridea,” he teased.
I huffed. “Would you be taking it if you’d found it?”
“I would be if your mother had insisted,” he grinned. “Isn’t love great? It has you doing things you never imagined you’d do,” he said.
Who said anything about love?
“She’s a guest here. This means a lot to her,” I explained.
“You just keep telling yourself that. I know I pretended I didn’t need your mother. I was wrong. You’ll find the same. We Marzoni men can be thick-headed sometimes, but when we love, it’s with our whole heart,” Dad said. “We’ll do anything for the women we love.”
He obviously wasn’t listening to what I was saying. No point in trying again, because Annabella had come down and joined us.
“Mr. Marzoni, did Colton show you the baby mouse?” she asked.
“He did. I hope that the little one makes it. You’d better get going,” he said.
Thanks, Dad. Taking her side, I see.
“Do you really think they can save him?” she asked.
Dad shrugged. “If you don’t go, he has no chance at all. So I don’t think you have anything to lose for trying.”
She hugged my dad and said, “Thanks for understanding. I’m sorry I can’t stay to help you with packing up her things.”
“This is more important. We can always do more when you come visit me again,” he said.
If she even wants to come back here. There’s nothing for her to do. Hell, a baby mouse is the most excitement she’s experienced so far.
Soon we were on the road, and I tried talking to her as I drove. I got some answers, but for the most part, she kept checking in on the mouse. I’ve never seen anyone put so much effort into saving such a tiny creature. At first I thought this was ridiculous, but as I watched her, I became invested in the mouse’s survival as well.
I pulled into the parking lot almost two hours later and escorted Annabella into the WPA office. She pushed the shoebox gently into the hands of the nearest vet tech and asked, “Do you think you can save him?”
“He’s very young,” the vet tech said after a quick once-over. “But if we can get him to drink, he’ll have a chance.”
“Thank you so much. I know he’s only a mouse, but he’s a baby and someone should fight for him and love him if his mother can’t,” said Annabella.
In that moment, it almost felt as though she was talking about me. My mother has passed, my birth mother couldn’t care for me and had given me up. The difference is I’m not a baby, I don’t need anyone to take care of me. But that doesn’t mean I don’t need someone to care.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, I said, “He’s in good hands. We can head to the airport now.”
She nodded. “I can’t believe it’s time for me to fly back to Boston already. It feels like I only just got here, and it’s been four days.”
“This time together has gone by too quickly.”
“And we will only have two days together next time. I’m dreading the next goodbye already,” she said.
I kissed the top of her head. “We’ll work it out, Annabella. You just wait and see. It will all be okay.”
She nodded. “I can’t wait for you to meet my parents. I hope you get along with them as well as I did with your dad.”
I chuckled. “You have my dad eating out of your hand. If he wasn’t my dad, I might be jealous.”
She smiled up at me. “Can’t help it. He’s just so darn charming.” Then with a wink, she added, “Now I know where you get it.”
I’m a lot like my adoptive father and nothing like my biological one.There’s no point digging deeper to learn what he was like, because I’m nothing like him and he’s already deceased.
I took her hand and we walked back out to the truck. The ride to the airport was chattier and more relaxed than the ride to the WPA. It might seem ridiculous to others, but we did a good thing today. She helped my dad, saved a mouse, and opened my eyes to just how damn lucky I was to know her.
So why did I feel like shit?
It’s not because I go back to work tomorrow. It’s because she won’t be here when I wake up.
