Page 44 of Elijah

“Is it sucking its thumb?”

“What? Let me see.”

I turned the phone to Amy and she moved in closer, her head brushing against my shoulder as she did. As she peered down at the screen, I inhaled; her scent still familiar, still driving me crazy with need.

“Oh yes,” she cried. “It is. Wow that’s amazing, isn’t it?” Evidently forgetting herself, Amy grabbed my forearm and grinned up at me.

“It’s really cool,” I replied, trying to sound as excited as Amy was.

“It is.”

Her voice was wistful and as she continued to stare down at the screen, I watched her, trying hard not to take her ponytail in my hand, because just like my dad had described, my fingers were twitching to do so. I wanted to run my fingers through it, separating the strands like I used to. As we both looked down at the picture, the pain in my chest started again and I felt my throat tighten with the emotion of the moment.

“I’d better get going,” I eventually said around a swallow. “Here you go and give Matty and his girlfriend my best.”

Amy blinked her long lashes as she looked up at me while taking her phone from my hand.

“I will,” she whispered.

I gave her a smile and turned to leave, not trusting myself to not say something I might regret. As I reached the back door, Amy called out to me.

“Yeah,” I said, half turning back to her.

“It wasn’t anybody’s fault.”

I nodded, gave her a small smile, then left because it was all I could manage to do.