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.

was getting late. Grape mentioned she was exhausted, and before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep. Josie carefully covered her with

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

at a loss for words. “Not bad. You’ve been taking

managed to maintain his composure, no longer as emotionally expressive as he was when he was

a hardship. The

The lingering scent of smoke was still present in the air. She cleared her

chuckled softly. “It’s not a dog. It’s

wolf?” She was

harm to anyone. For now, it only

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

urge to smoke again, but he held back. “Were you really that close to her? Then why didn’t you tell her where you were during the two years

Josie was choked up.

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

his gaze,

instance?”

deeply into his soft, pitiful gaze. For instance? For

time not averting her gaze, “Arnold said that on

was talking about him leaving

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