The Cost of Forgetting You

by Hannah Bird

“You’ve got to allow people to grow, Delilah. You can’t spend your whole life seeing people as their worst mistake. I doubt you’d want to be judged by yours.”

“You were my bright spot. I didn’t like to bring the clouds out when you were around.”

“Oh come on, Temptress. Surely you remember what I look like when I’m about to kiss you?”

“I want you to believe them. I want to embed myself in your heart, become as vital to you as breathing. I’m tired of pretending like I haven’t thought about you every day since you left. To pretend I haven’t imagined you exactly like this.”

“You can push me away. You can lash out. You can feel whatever you need to feel.” He tips my chin up, brushes his lips featherlight against mine. “But I’m never going to walk away. I’m never going to stop taking care of you. I will prove to you every day that I am this man. That I will not abandon you again.”

We are happy. And we are sad. We want more from this life, and yet we’d never change it. All these things can be true at once. We’re not bad people for it. We’re just people. Just Lucy and Henry. A breath apart, but also a lifetime.

“I hate that you think so little of my favorite person in the whole world. You’re a remarkable little thing, Delilah, and you can’t even see it.”

“Forget what happened before. You’re mine now. And I always take care of what’s mine.”

“The cost of forgetting you,” he whispers into my hair, “is that I’ll never be able to make it right. To show you how very sorry I am for the way I let you down.”

“If you love him, don’t let him pass you by. I promise you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“We’ll get another life, Lucy. Another chance.” I lift our joined hands to my lips. “I promise. I’ll find you when I get there, and I’ll never let you go.”