Don't Forget Me Tomorrow (Time River, #2)

by A.L. Jackson

I wouldn’t taint her goodness with the sickness of me.

I’d wanted to give her everything I had, but the only thing I had been able to do was give her the one gift that I could.

And I hope you know how much I love you and want the best for you. The only thing I ask in return is that you keep chasing after joy, and don’t you dare ever stop. And I’ll be right here with you every step of the way.”

A tree grew up his right shoulder, the spindly branches stretching out to cover his right pec. A crow sat on one of the branches, ready to take flight, though there was a chain around its leg, keeping it from flying.

Meet me in the place of the forgotten.

“Loved-up only leaves you messed-up.”

Maybe I needed something to remind me of the good before I devolved into depravity.

His expression twisted in shame and gluttony, his words dragging like blades through the dense air. “What I would do to be good enough for you.”

She finally gathered the courage to look at him. And it was like she was looking at midnight. Falling into it. Getting lost in it.

“The only thing I want is for you to be happy, Dakota. Fully happy and fulfilled. I pray every day that this life gives you everything you deserve. That you find the one who makes your heart and body sing, holds you up when you need uplifting and cheers you on when you’re standing fine on your own. And I’m not blind…I know your heart made its pick a long, long time ago.”

Because the pain would always be a part of me, but it became a piece of the bigger picture. A piece of the whole. Every experience we had shaped us into who we were, we just had to make sure the bitter parts came out sweeter on the other side.

“And this heart? It is always going to beat for you. Because there aren’t enough days in eternity that could make me forget about you.”

“All our todays and all our tomorrows.”