Page 16 of This Kind of Forever

I shake my head. “We both are. The truth is…Clara isn’t the only one who’s missed you. It might take us a minute, but I want to go back to how we were before.”

Before I opened my mouth and screwed everything up.

She smiles. It’s tentative, but it’s something. “I’d really like that. I’ve…missed you, too.”

“Then consider us friends again.” Before the pit in my stomach can grow, I pull out my phone, distracting myself. “I’m going to order pizza for lunch. What kind do you want?”

Hallie’s eyes light up, and I take pride in putting some brightness back into her expression. She’s always been a sucker for pizza. “Veggie lover’s for me, please.”

I pause. “Veggie lover’s?”

She laughs, and for once, the sound is unburdened. “Yes, Gabriel. I’m a vegetarian. It’s pretty standard.”

My jaw drops. “Sincewhen?”

She shrugs. “Since I moved off the island. Really, since grade eight.”

“Gradeeight? The Hallie I used to know loved a good pepperoni.”

“No,” she says. “The Hallie you used to know just wasn’t very good at making her voice heard.”

Looking back on all the pepperoni pizzas Hallie and I split while Clara devoured her Hawaiian is like a punch to the gut. Did I ever ask her preference? Evidently not.

“Veggie lover’s it is, then,” I say.

Hallie offers me another small smile, and then she turns back to wiping down the counter in the kitchenette.

Once the pizza is ordered, I pick up my own cloth, but I don’t go back to cleaning yet. “Hallie?”

“Yeah?”

“The other day, when I implied you weren’t visiting Pops enough, I didn’t mean it like that. I wasn’t trying to say you did anything wrong.”

When she looks at me, her eyes are sad. “It’s fine. You were right. I didn’t visit him as much as I should have. I shouldn’t have…left.”

The air in my lungs disappears, and I struggle for breath. She holds my gaze for another moment before she looks away. I swallow, forcing down every question that sits on the tip of my tongue.

Why did you run?

Are you staying for good?

Why didn’t you love me back?

SEVEN

GABE

“Abbs, are you ready to go?”

“One more minute!” she yells down the stairs.

I shake my head to myself with a sigh. She’s been saying that for the past half hour. I know she hasn’t mastered how to tell time yet, but I’m starting to get the feeling that my daughter is delaying us on purpose.

The back door opens, and I peer down the hall just in time to see Hallie sneak into the kitchen. I have no doubt that Abbie will take longer than a minute, so I follow after her.

“Foster,” I say.

She jumps a little at my voice but spins to face me. “Yeah?”