Page 71 of The Sweetest Obsession

Where the Wild Things Are.

She thrusts it at me gleefully.

My breath goes tight and shallow as I reach for it.

Oh, wow. It can’t be, can it?

Carefully, I open the book across my lap, flip to the last page, the inside cover.

Yep, it’s still there in the lower right corner.

O. E. G.

Each letter written in a different hand. The first is so messy it had to be traced a couple times until it actually made a proper O.

O. E. G.

Ophelia. Ethan. Grant.

My lips tremble, but I smile, tracing the letters with my fingertips.

“I remember this book,” I whisper. “Did you know I knew your Uncle Grant when he was just a boy, Nell?”

“You did?” She watched me with rapt attention.

“He was my brother’s best friend. We were always together, all three of us. The Three Musketeers.” It hurts to breathe, but the pain isn’t all bitter. “When he’d sleep over with my brother at my mom’s house, your uncle would bring this book quite a lot. Sometimes he’d read to us until we fell asleep... and if we didn’t fall asleep the first time, he’d read it again.”

Nell looks at me with something like awe.

“Dang. You reallyarethe lady,” she whispers. I blush hotly until she asks, “Where’s your brother now? How come Uncle Grant doesn’t hang out with him anymore?”

Holy shit, the mouth of babes.

My throat closes up.

“Ethan, he had to go away,” I manage slowly. “Kind of like the way your parents had to leave, too.”

Nell’s eyes glisten, but she beams me the sweetest, bravest smile and then scoots across the bed until she can steal my arm to hug it, leaning herself against my shoulder.

“It’s okay if he’s gone,” she says. “I get it. Uncle Grant tells me all the time it’s cool to be sad. I’m only sad because I still love them, and that’s not a bad thing.”

She’s. Killing. Me.

“Your Uncle Grant is very wise—just don’t tell him I said that,” I joke, kissing the top of her head. “Also, you’re very right. It’s not bad to be sad. I still love my brother a lot.”

“Do you still love Uncle Grant, too?”

I stiffen. My next breath goes down wrong until I have to clear my throat to talk.

“I. Um. Let’s start the story so you’re not up past your bedtime.”

“...if I don’t fall asleep, will you read it to me again?” she asks hopefully.

I smile.

“Yeah, sweetie,” I say. “I absolutely will.”

I end up reading the book almost three times before Nell finally dozes off.