Chapter 2: The One Who Remembered
Part 2 ⬇️
I didn't move at first.
I just listened.
The footsteps were light.
Small, almost careful — like whoever it was didn't want to startle me.
Then my youngest, Ryan, appeared in the kitchen doorway.
He was still in his work jacket, holding a grocery bag in one hand and a bunch of gas station flowers in the other.
The plastic wrap was still on them.
He looked at the cupcake on the table.
At the unlit candle.
At me sitting there alone in the quiet.
He didn't say anything for a moment.
Then: "Mom.
How long have you been sitting here?"
I tried to smile.
"Not long."
He set the flowers down and pulled out the chair across from me.
"Leo and Marcus didn't come."
It wasn't a question.
"They're busy," I said.
Ryan looked at me the way you look at someone when you know they're lying to protect other people's feelings.
He reached into the bag and pulled out a lighter.
He lit the candle.
"Make a wish," he said quietly.
I looked at that small flame and felt thirty years press against my chest all at once.
I was about to blow it out when my phone buzzed again.
Another text.
This time from Marcus.
I read it — and my hand went still.
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What Marcus texted in that moment changed everything she thought she knew.
Click the link below to read the full story — the truth is harder than anyone expected.
