Page 143 of Love Unwritten

“Are you kidding? You just spent thirty minutes pretending to be a dolphin.”

“First off, I was a shark.”

I giggle. “My bad.”

He smiles, and my heart misses a beat.

“I haven’t seen Nico this happy in a very long time.” The light in his eyes fades a bit.

“What?” I ask.

“I’m just worried it could all disappear.”

“No one can be happy forever. It’s not sustainable.”

He looks out at the ocean again. “Trust me, I know.”

My chest tightens uncomfortably at the reminder of his past choice to make others happy at the expense of his own happiness.

I twist in my chair until I’m facing him. “Nico is going to have great days like today, but he’s also going to have shitty ones like the night of his accident. All you can do is support him through the good and the bad.”

He sighs. “I hate the bad days.”

“Me too, but they happen, especially with the rapid progression of his condition.”

“Being out of control makes me edgy.”

I frown. “You’re not going to be able to control everything, but you are able to control how you react to situations.”

He scowls. “I didn’t mean to have a breakdown at the doctor’s.”

I wasn’t planning on bringing that up, but if he wants to, then okay.

“I know that,” I say in a soft voice.

“I’m still embarrassed he heard me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m supposed to be strong, and he saw me at my weakest.”

I blink a few times. “Is that the lesson you want to teach your kid? That crying or feeling emotional about something that clearly matters to you makes you weak?”

He stares at me.

I look down at my lap. “When Nico made me promise not to say anything about his worsening vision, I thought it was because he didn’t want to make you sad again. But maybe it was because he didn’t want to look weak to you either.”

“Fuck.” His head drops back a few seconds later. “I never even thought of that.”

I hadn’t either until he started describing himself as weak because he had a moment of vulnerability.

Rafael blinks up at the striped umbrella a few times and sniffs.

Oh shit.

Did I make him cry? I never did that to anyone except my mother, and it makes me feel awful. “Are you okay?”

He rubs his eyes. “I’ve got some sand in my eye.”