tears well in my eyes. “Don’t talk like that. We can fight it, can’t we? We still have time, Dad.”
He shakes his head, setting his hand on top of mine. The broken man from just a few moments ago is gone, and in his place is the father I remember. The man who has always been well put together. Stoic and strong. My protector.
“There is no more time, baby. This is it for me.”
I shake my head, feeling my tears carve hot trails down my cheeks. “No. No, we’ll find a new doctor. We’ll get a second opinion. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
My dad squeezes my hand, another round of tears welling in his eyes. “It’s too late for a second opinion. I waited too long.”
Rage sparks in my chest. “Why did you do that? Why would you wait?” My bottom lip quivers.
“Because if I’m going to die, I’m going to do it in my right mind. Not with countless drugs passing through my system where I won’t even be conscious of what’s happening around me. I want to be here for you and Luna, not stuck somewhere in a bed waiting to die.”
Everything he’s saying makes sense, but it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. It hurts. The torment battering against my chest is crippling.
Sniffing past the pressure, I wipe at the tears soaking my face, trying to suppress the quiver of my bottom lip.
“I get it…I just…it feels like I just got you back,” I choke out, pain lancing through my heart, tearing the organ to shreds.
My dad’s eyes slam shut. When he opens them again, he looks like he is on the verge of crumbling again.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I went about our relationship the wrong way, and that’s no one’s fault but mine. I regret so many things, but you…you’ve always been the one thing I did right. I love you, Selene. Like the sun loves the moon. Like you love the moon. Years from now, don’t ever forget how much I love you. How much I regret letting so much time pass without speaking to you.”
A sob rips past my lips, and I fall into my dad’s arms, squeezing him to me. I grapple at his back, feeling like he’s going to slip away from me at any given moment. I want to turn back time. I want him to stay. For me. For Luna. For Mom.
Doesn’t he know how lost we’ll be without him?
My dad holds me for a while longer, and we sit together out on the porch, both of us sniffling as we stare up at the blanket of stars in the dark velvet sky. The moon gleams, and unlike every other night, she brings me no comfort tonight.
I ring the doorbell with my heart in my throat, and my nerves shaking chaotically. I don’t know what I’m doing here. This is a stupid idea. He’s not going to be happy to see me, but after the mess in the parking lot the other day and at the falls the other night, I need to talk to him.
He’s been away the last two nights, having to run contracts for work, so we haven’t had to deal with each other, and he hasn’t been able to see Luna. She’s been asking about him like crazy, so we’ve opted to do phone calls and FaceTime until he gets back.
He mentioned he’d be back sometime tonight or tomorrow morning, so after Luna fell asleep, I left her with my parents and decided to drive to his place and try to have a civil conversation with him. I need to clear the air of any awkwardness between us. Because I can’t handle it. I need to do what’s best for Luna, and that means keeping my distance from Endymion, but that also means keeping the peace. Whenever I’m near him, I don’t think straight. He’s always had this hold over me, and being so close to him, seeing him with our daughter, has only heightened my attraction to him.
I wish I didn’t love him. I wish I didn’t feel anything for him at all. That would make all of this much easier. But that’s not the case. There has never been a day that I haven’t loved Endymion Black. From the first moment I laid eyes on him, he imprinted himself on my heart, leaving a mark that promised to last a lifetime, and since then, I’ve never truly let