Something changed after that night. It was like Shereen grew up that night.
There were days when I will catch her staring at me when she thought I was not looking. And there were days when I will catch her staring at nothing, her mind probably wandering, full of questions she did not want to ask anymore.
But I felt that she has accepted what I had told her. She stopped asking me, but I knew she was asking her Nana instead. Not that I heard them talking about Andy. It was just the small things that gave them away.
Like how an old picture of Andy and me suddenly had the prized location at Shereen's bedside table. I did not ask her about it. I knew her Nana gave it to her – so she will have a memory of her father. And one more puzzle piece clicked into place – I often wondered what came of the pictures I had of Andy and myself. I thought my mother threw them away when we left town. I did not realize that she had them all along. Probably to show to her grandchild when the time came.
Other things started to appear in Shereen's bedroom. Like the bedside lamp that was a Christmas gift from Andy. And the panda bear that he gave me on my 18th birthday. And other trinkets and things that I have kept all those years that I was with Andy. It got so that whenever I was in Shereen's bedroom, I would remember things and the days when we were still together. It was like her bedroom was reminding me all the time of Andy. So I stopped going into Shereen's bedroom. I don't know if Shereen noticed, or if she knew that I started remembering, and hurting.
I did not want to tell Shereen how I was hurting. Because I knew she was discovering her father by having all those things with her. Although I think it was more because she wanted to believe that her father somehow loves her too. And having those things with her makes her believe.
No matter how painful it was to me, I could not take that away from her. So I let her be.
YOU ARE READING
Borrowed Time
Short StoryA finished story in progress. Lori and Andy, the classic star-crossed college sweethearts. Their story never had closure. Fourteen years later, they meet again, not quite incidental. But theirs is a story that will not know a happy ending, nor wi...
