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I’d felt the suffocation of the memories, of the sadness, so I’d run off to stay with Ma the truth that he was really gone For over a year, I’d been living in one out for h the door any ti when I lay down to sleep, I stayed on the left side and closed ht

But now, my Emma needed e hbors who said words that should never fill a five-year-old’s ears She neededhalf thetheme more peace

I headed back inside the house and looked down atin a perfect pattern She and I had much in common, from our dimpled cheeks to the blonde tone of our hair We shared the sarew loud in the coht corner of her mouth and frowned out of the left, the sa difference

She had his blue eyes

I lay beside Eainst her nose before I reached into the heart-shaped tin box and read another love letter It was one I’d read before, yet it still tugged at my spirit

Sometimes I pretended the letters were from Steven

I always cried a little

Chapter Two

Elizabeth

"Are we really going ho rooainst her sweet face I picked her up from the bed and placed her and Bubba--her teddy bear and all-time favorite companion--on the closest chair Bubba wasn’t simply a teddy bear, he was a irl was a little weird, and after she saw the movie Hotel Transylvania--which involved zombies, vampires, and mummies--she decided that maybe a little scary and maybe a little weird was perfect

"We are" I sht before I hadn’t slept a wink and I stayed up packing all of our belongings

Erin on her face that matched her father’s She screa ho a little in the back ofI’d learned to always s sad whenever she thought I was sad Even though she gavedown, she didn’t need that kind of responsibility

"We should make it back in time to see the fireworks on our rooftop Remember hoe used to watch the fireworks on the roof with Daddy? Do you remeoing deep into herIf only our minds were like file cabinets and we could sianized syste Bubba