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As he talks, his expression turns soft It’s a look I’ve never seen on his face, but one that ly handsome

“Each visit was short, but with each one, I dreaded her leaving She was so sweet and soft-spoken, but also had a sense of hu We’d sit outside on the porch and h until our stomachs hurt She was one of the easiest people to talk to On the last day, I got her phone nuot home, and for a year and a half, that’s hoe communicated”

He stops for a ht, then shakes his head and continues I keep

“The day I got o see her, but she wouldn’t She said it was too far to drive withstatus It took o, and even then, I had to pull over and call her every hour”

He chuckles, but it sounds dry

“We talked for a year and a half on the phone, buteach other again in person, ere both so nervous It was easy on the phone, because eren’t face-to-face We finally et over our aardness and it felt just as natural as e first met and then e spoke on the phone I visited her once a month and we became really close over the years We both dated other people, but for s for Clara, but she lived so far away, so I tried pushing the feelings aside, but it never worked”

He takes a s of his drink, then uses his arm to wipe his mouth I can’t take irl he fell in love with as a teenager

He drops one of his legs and rests the bottle on the top of his thigh

“We attended the sae and it wasn’t until I was a junior and she a sopho and e, and decided right away to start a fan, so she was able to work from home It was perfect for us, because she wanted to be at home with our kids We were both so excited We tried for nant It took two years…”

He trails off, and I know from the look on his face whatever he’s about to say will be excruciating for hi out to hiesture won’t be welcoether

“She lost the baby when she o nant,” he says, then stops to clear his throat when his voice cracks “She was six weeks pregnant when she lost the second” I suck in a breath and my hand flies to my mouth Immediate tears fill my eyes But he’s not done “At four months, she miscarried our third baby, and at one month oing to try for a fifth Each o through each one became too much, but she wanted to try one last time”

Unable to stand the sap between us, I scoot closer to hi us in shadows I know he has to be freezing, but the warht now nore the cold

I watch the hand that’s not holding the bottle flex back and forth into a fist as he continues to talk, further breaking my heart for him

“We were so careful She made it thirty-teeks before the baby decided to come” A smile touches his face for a brief second before it slips free “She was so tiny and incredibly gorgeous”

He pulls a picture out of his pocket, and I recognize it as one of the ones in his nightstand drawer It’s the one of theers the photo with reverence, like it’s one of the s to him