AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The things he'd say sometimes could tear her in two in such a good way. Daniel was sincere, and she'd never known anyone like him. He wore his heart right on his sleeve, and meeting someone who wasn't afraid, to tell the truth, was refreshing.
She pulled him close and kissed him as the sun slipped below the horizon, which was perfect. He was perfect.
The children were looking at them with baffled expressions when they stopped, and Anna laughed herself silly.
"Grown-ups!" Tina groaned, rolling her eyes to get Ben to smile, and he agreed instantly.
"Grown-ups are crazy!" he laughed.
/
Tina stayed up to watch TV that evening with him, and he noticed she was quieter than usual.
"You, OK?" he asked, nudging her leg with his hand.
"Yeah," she answered, not looking away from the TV.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, unconvinced that she was OK.
"I can't really remember mom anymore," she said, and he could hear her voice about to break.
"Awww, honey, come here," he said, pulling her into his arms.
She sobbed softly, and he hated it. Hearing Tina cry was the worst.
"I used to be able to remember her voice and the way she smelled and I can't anymore."
Daniel held her as she continued to cry, but he had an idea.
"Just a second, stay right there," he said when she was starting to regain her composure.
Daniel went to his room and dug out the box of Candace's things in the closet. He never brought these things out because it hurt him to look at them, but he couldn't throw them away, either. He had pictures of her in albums around the house, but he couldn't bear to see many of her things all the time.
When he got back to the living room, Tina looked baffled.
"What's that?" she asked as he placed the box on the table.
"Here," he said, handing her a sweater from inside the box.
"Oh my God," she sighed. "This was hers . . . I saw a picture of her in it."
"Smell it," he smiled.
It still smelled like Vanilla perfume; Daniel knew that because he used to smell it occasionally.
Daniel grabbed his laptop and slid an SD card from the box into the slot to show Tina the clips of the wedding video he kept, even though he knew it would drive him crazy to hear her voice.
Tina sat beside him with the sweater in her lap and watched her parent's wedding on the laptop screen.
"There's even some video from when you were a baby," he said, wrapping his arm around her.
"I look like her," she said, staring at the screen.
"You look just like her," he agreed. "Your voice sounds like hers too."
"It feels like I'm betraying my mother because I like Anna and Ben," she confessed.
"You aren't. Your mother wouldn't want you to spend your life closed off from other people."
