Reminders of Him

by Colleen Hoover

“She takes dance,” I say, answering her earlier question about Diem. I put my truck in park and pull up the video from her recital. “That’s where I was last night. She had a recital.” I hand Kenna the phone. She watches the first several seconds with a straight face and then bursts into laughter. I hate that I love watching Kenna’s face when she watches videos of Diem. It does something to me. Makes me feel something I probably shouldn’t be feeling. But I like the feeling, and it makes me wonder what it would be like getting to witness Kenna and Diem interact in real life. Kenna watches the video three times with a huge smile on her face. “She’s horrible!” It makes me laugh. There’s a joy to her voice that isn’t usually there, and I wonder if that joy would always be present if Diem were a part of Kenna’s life. “Does she like dance?” Kenna asks. I shake my head. “No. After the recital was over, she said she wanted to quit and do ‘that thing with the swords.’” “Fencing?” “She wants to try everything. All the time. But she never sticks to anything because she gets bored with it and thinks the next thing will be more interesting.” “They say boredom is a sign of intelligence,” Kenna says. “She’s very smart, so that would make sense.”