Grape nodded emphatically, then suddenly whispered, “Mommy, Daddy really loves you.”

Josie was taken aback. “Do you know what love is?”

“I don’t know, but I know he’s deeply in love with you.”

The child’s words were disjointed, spilling out without rhyme or reason. Josie didn’t pay it any mind.

Out of the blue, Grape asked, “Mommy, can you love Daddy?”

Josie paused once again, instinctively glancing at the figure outside. Love him?

“Why?” Josie asked.

“I want the two of you to be together, just like before in the big house, both of you loving me together.

Before, Josie never thought much about being from a single-parent family. It wasn’t until then that she realized the profound warmth a complete family could bring to a child’s upbringing.

For a moment, she found it incredibly difficult to respond.

getting late. Grape mentioned she was exhausted, and before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep. Josie carefully covered her with a small blanket before she quietly opened the car door

cigarette to the ground, where it was snuffed out. “How are you

a loss for words. “Not bad. You’ve

managed to maintain his composure, no longer as emotionally expressive as

wasn’t a hardship. The focus is on

still present in the air.

softly. “It’s not a dog.

wolf?” She was

to anyone. For now, it

a topic, so she told him about Laura’s reaction. “I don’t think Laura is that kind

he held back. “Were you really that close to her? Then why didn’t you tell her

Josie was choked up.

they hadn’t reached the point of truly understanding each other. “I refrained from telling her due

his gaze,

instance?”

taken aback, falling deeply into his soft,

“Arnold

talking about him leaving

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