Page 115 of Love Unwritten

A dark look passes over his face before he stares down at his feet.

My stomach muscles clench. “What’s wrong?”

He stays quiet.

“I was just kidding,” I say to put him at ease.

“I know,” he whispers.

“Did I say something to make you upset?”

He shakes his head.

“You can talk to me. I’m not going to get mad or anything.”

He takes a deep breath. “I overheard Dahlia and Lily talking about you.”

My lungs feel as though they’re being crushed by some invisible weight. “What did they say?”

“That you’re handsome, but you hide it because you’re sad.”

Mierda.

Hearing the truth from my son’s mouth hits hard. I internalized my despair and became someone else until I no longer recognized my own reflection.

It was easy to ignore the failure of a person I was by making him disappear altogether.

Nico’s comment sparks a new flame of hope in my chest.

I kneel in front of him. “Lily and Dahlia were right.”

His head snaps up. “They were?”

“Yeah. I stopped caring because I was sad.”

His bottom lip trembles.

“But I do disagree with one thing,” I add.

“What?”

“Being called handsome.”

He laughs. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“No. This is me being happy.”

His wariness remains. “Really?”

“Yeah, and I’m going to prove it to you.”

I park the Jeep back at the hotel an hour later. Nico struggles to carry the bags of supplies we—okay, mostly I—picked out for Ellie, but he refuses my help as he lugs them all the way back to our suite.

He leaves my room to go take a peek inside hers, only to return with a frown. “She fell asleep.”

“Maybe she’s still feeling sick?”

“Is it because we’re going on a plane again tomorrow?”