Promise Me Not

by Meagan Brandy

I’m talking that gravity-defying, soul-defining, epic love story shit.

I do the only thing I can think of. I send a message in our group thread. Me: Mama. You need to come. Payton’s breaking and I don’t know how to fix it. I stare at my screen, and not five seconds later, Dad’s response comes through. Dad: on our way, son.

“I’ve got her, baby. You can take a break.”

“My son, our son, deserves someone else to love him like you do, and if it can’t be me, it has to be him.”

“I helped make him. He helped bring him into this world.”

when his little palm reaches out to touch it, something has him stretching out his other one until his fingers are pressed to Mason’s shoulder.