30

"Yeah, I’ve been telling myself that lie ever since, almost believed it, too. But you, little dove." He took her hand back in his and ran his thumb over the back of it in small, absentminded circles. "You insisted on showing me how wrong I was. Every time you pulled me up on my stupidity, made me face my past and forced it down my throat that Rick turning out the way he has wasn’t my fault. Every time you cried at some stupid happy ever after in one of those Disney romcoms you watch with Rhia every Saturday afternoon. Every time you made her smile, you stood up for her against the assholes that call themselves her grandparents, the way you were with my mum…" His voice cracked, and he dropped her hand.