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Principal Gallo stayed quiet for a moment. His eyes were heavy with emotions, and I couldn’t figure out what exactly he was thinking. I couldn’t figure out where his mind was going, and what he was about to say to me.
All I knew was that he, too, was going through the motions of grief, trying to figure out what the next proper steps were to take. He was drowning just as his nephew had been.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him, shaking my head slightly. “I’m sorry for all of this. I mean that from the bottom of my heart, Principal Gallo. I am sorry for it all.”
He cleared his throat, still not looking toward me. “Perhaps we should follow up with this conversation next week. Until then, please keep your distance from the school. I’ll be in touch once everything is handled. Also, please keep your distance from my nephew. He has enough going on in his life. Your involvement isn’t going to make anything easier for him. Trust me.”
I heard his words, but my heart didn’t want to listen. Because in the middle of Milo’s storm, he still showed up for me. What kind of monster would I be to not do the same for him?
“I won’t stop seeing him,” I confessed.
Principal Gallo raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“I know how this looks to you, Principal Gallo. I know how unprofessional it is, and how awful of a human being you think I am, but I am in love with your nephew, and all I can think about is how he doesn’t deserve to be alone. I’ll step down from finishing my teaching degree. I’ll pivot directions, seeing how I tainted my character, but I do not regret a second of what happened between Milo and me—”
“Starlet—”
“Wait, let me finish. I know you are here to tell me why this is wrong, and why I screwed up, and I want you to know that I see all of that. I get it, and I accept blame, but Milo means the world to me. He means more to me than anyone ever has before, and I cannot leave him. I cannot let him go. He’s the best part of my days. Even when he’s sad and broken, he’s still so good. And I want to be that for him, too. I want to be his good. So go ahead. Tell me how awful I am. Tell me what a shame of a human being I have showcased myself as…but please know that this thing between him and me is real. It’s the realest kind of love I’ve ever felt, and I’ll never apologize for that feeling.”
Principal Gallo’s brows lowered. “Are you done now, Starlet?”
I nodded. “Yes. I think that’s it.”
He removed his glasses and sat back in his chair. “Good. Now it’s my turn.” He stared at me with such an authoritative look. As his mouth parted, my fears of what words he’d create grew more and more. Then he said, “Stay.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Understand that this isn’t me as the principal of this school, this is me as an uncle. I’ve been with my wife for forty years. Longer than both you and Milo have been alive. Milo’s parents were together thirty-some years. My sister Ana and I both lived epic love stories with our soulmates. We’ve lived love stories that people would make movies about. I didn’t understand when I first saw you two together. Hell, I probably didn’t understand up until you said no to me. Maybe I still don’t understand, but I saw it, Starlet. I saw what you two have, so all that I ask from you is that you stay.
“My nephew is drowning, and I haven’t been able to figure out how to help him in over a year. Nothing seemed to work, and I was at my wits’ end. Then you showed up, and everything began to shift. He laughed more when he came to my office. He smiled more, too. I didn’t think that I’d ever see him do those things again. Now, I realize why he was able to do those things. It was because of you. You brought Milo back to life, Starlet. So please…stay with him. You’re saving his life.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I think he’s saving mine, too.”
“I hope you understand that I cannot allow you to keep teaching here. If anyone else received wind of you and Milo…”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“But I won’t report you. We’ll come up with a reason for your teaching semester to come to an end.”
“Thank you, Principal Gallo.”
“No. Thank you, Starlet.”
Later that night, I pulled up to Milo’s house with my duffel bag in my hand. I rang his doorbell as my heart skipped a million beats. My mind was spinning at a rapid speed as I waited for him to come to the door, yet the moment he did, the moment he opened the door and stood in front of me, everything slowed down.
