Chapter 25 - Grace and I do not resume where we stopped
Everyone expected us to reunite.
Of course.
Former lovers.
Secret child.
Dead father’s manipulation exposed.
Easy ending.
No.
Grace did not trust me.
Not completely.
I did not trust my own instinct to accelerate.
We co-parented.
Then became friends slowly.
At Lily’s fifth birthday, we stood together while she attacked a cake shaped like a rabbit.
At five and a half, Grace called me when Lily had a fever during my parenting night because I panicked at 103 degrees.
Normal viral illness.
At six, we attended a school conference.
Teacher said Lily interrupted too often because:
“She is enthusiastic.”
Grace looked at me.
“Your genes.”
“Apparently my greatest crime.”
We laughed.
Then one evening, almost two years after the kitchen assault, Grace asked:
“Do you ever wonder?”
“About us?”
“Yes.”
“All the time.”
She nodded.
“Me too.”
I waited.
Old Nathan would have turned that into a plan.
Dinner Friday.
Weekend away.
Relationship definition.
I asked:
“What do you want to do with that?”
She smiled faintly.
“Nothing tonight.”
“Okay.”
Three months later we had dinner.
Not with Lily.
Date.
Awkward.
We talked about everything except the past until dessert.
Then Grace said:
“If this becomes serious, we do not pretend we’re continuing something from five years ago.”
“Agreed.”
“That relationship died.”
I hated the phrase.
It was true.
“We start new?”
“If we start.”
“Okay.”
No ring.
No promises.
May you like
Good.
────────────────────
