Chapter 4

“It was now or never,” I told Mattie. “I’d pined for her for a long time and knew she had feelings for me. I caressed the side of her face, looking into her blue eyes.”

Mattie’s hand took mine. I had nearly forgotten she was there. I turned to her.

“I just want you to know that, hard as it may be to believe, I was once young like you.” I paused. “And that when I was your age…I loved another girl.”

Mattie leaned to give me, her mother, a comforting kiss.

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”

“I know. But I’ve never told anyone except Helen about that afternoon. It wasn’t far from here. Charlotte lived on the Hill. I can see the room, her bedroom, when I walk Eddie.” Eddie was our chocolate lab. I told Mattie that Charlotte’s family moved to Florida a few years ago.

I needed a breath and we stood. I placed my arm through Mattie’s and leaned my head by her shoulder.