Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Quitting smoking comes with withdrawal, just like quitting a person.

Jessica knew she wasn't ready to erase him from her life completely, but she was determined not to let these feelings grow any further. She would do her best to cut them off. To forget.

"If that's your decision, then I won't tell him," Herbert said quietly. "There's no need to add any more ties between you two. Little Mute, when your divorce is final, there's something important I want to tell you."

She smiled faintly. "Honestly, you don't have to say it-I already know."

She was twenty-seven now-no, twenty-six.

Salome was twenty-six this year.

She had no idea why her age had suddenly become twenty-seven. Hollis still refused to explain what had happened.

Maybe the confusion over her age was why the Zimmerman family never found her.

But whether she was twenty-six or twenty-seven, at this age, she understood what went on between men and women. She wasn't naïve.

Herbert's heart skipped. "You really know?"

"I do. I know everything. So..."

For a second, she didn't know how to continue.

"Don't," Herbert cut her off, gentle but insistent. "Let me say it first. I'll wait for you. I'll tell you after your divorce."

Something like this-he wanted to be the one to say it first.

From the way she reacted, Herbert felt hope stirring inside him.

That tiny seed called love suddenly took root and blossomed.

for

answer left Herbert a little shy; for a moment, he couldn't quite meet her eyes. Knock,

knock sounded at the

"Come in."

door opened and Vince

He's asking

to go

already

"I won't see him."

nothing

already decided not to look back. Meeting again would only make things

"I'll go tell him."

the hospital

with sadness

to

crowded in, but Timothy had sent

Now, everyone waited outside.

Timothy saw only Vince return, disappointment

"She won't see me?"

Vince nodded.

and yet she didn't show the

never felt this kind

not love him at

How could it be?

He couldn't accept it.

wouldn't come to him,