Page 51 of Let's Be Forever

A deep groan rattles her chest, and she pins me with the harshest side-eye. “All you’ve been doing this week is talking to him, and he’s doing jack shit. I say we kill him.”

I offer her a weary smile. “And then Rosie will be without a parent.”

Our eyes drop to my daughter playing on the living room floor. I’m not sure how she grabbed them, but she has my car keys and is playing with them. I should take them away because she could misplace them or they could get lost, but I can’t bring myself to stand from the couch.

“Okay, I’ll do all the stabbing and you help me clean up the mess. I’ve seen enough true crime. I’ll make sure not to get blood everywhere, and we’ll dispose of his body at a pig farm. I hear they eat just about anything.” She sounds excited at the prospect.

“Sounds like a deal to me.” I chuckle and she does too.

“All right, I’m heading out now.” She pushes off the couch and stands, stretching her arms over her head.

“You know you don’t have to leave. You live here. If you don’t want to be in the living room, you can stay in my room.”

It’s Sunday, so Sylas will be here in a few minutes. Maya told me she’ll leave any time he comes over. I already stressed that she doesn’t need to, but she insists.

“I need to get out. I’ve been putting off working out.”

“Look, I appreciate your help with Rosie, but if you can’t watch her anymore, that’s okay. I promise I won’t be upset. I can bring her with me to the bakery. That isn’t an issue.”

“Shut up.” She grabs a pillow and throws it at me. “I love having her with me, so don’t start. I live in Boston; there’s so much to do. I figure it’s time I start getting to know the area.”

“Promise you’ll tell me if—” I stop talking mid-sentence when we hear a knock on the door. I glance in the direction of the door and back at my sister. “If you can’t watch her anymore.”

“You sure you don’t want to talk about what happened last Sunday?” She stares at me empathetically.

After I left his condo last week, I came straight home. I tried my hardest not to look upset, but Maya caught on right away. Still, I played it off like I was fine because what is there to say?

I’m upset because my ex-boyfriend doesn’t trust me enough to open up to me? Sylas is my ex; he doesn’t owe me anything.

“There is nothing to talk about.” I stand, covering my mouth as another yawn escapes me. “I’m just trying to adjust to the new norm. So much has happened and changed. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I’m fine.”

I head to the door and stall before opening it. He’s been texting me every day for updates on Rosie, asking me questions about her, and then he’ll talk to me as if we’re…I don’t know, friends or like what we used to be.

And I hate it because I miss what we used to be. I hate that no matter how much time has passed, part of me aches to be with him again.

“Are you going to get that or just stand there? We don’t have to let him in. We can pretend you forgot and…”

I blink out of it. Those thoughts need to stop. I’ll only be screwing myself over.

I muffle my laugh. “I’m not going to do that.”

I open the door and wish I could shake some sense into my heart. The moment our eyes meet, it thunders and flashbacks appear. Traitorous little bitches. I’d love to slap myself. He’s just a man. The father of my kid, fine, but he’s still a man who looks like—Christ.

“Don’t fuck this up,” Maya warns Sylas as she walks around us.

He grins and those stupid dimples appear. “I promise I won’t,” he says to her while still looking at me.

“We’ll see,” she replies, and then she’s off.

“Hey, Anna.” The smile on his face is dangerous. I’ve seen various ones, but this one is special.

It’s the kind he’d give me first thing in the morning, when we’d make love, when we’d see each other after days of being apart, and when he first said he loved me.

I wish I’d develop amnesia. Knowing those moments by heart, aching to relive them, is the worst kind of torture. I’m not intentionally trying to remember them, but my brain, for whatever reason, is fighting hard to keep the memories alive.

“Hey.” I offer a small smile, giving him space to come in before shutting the door behind us. As I guide him to the living room, I hear something crinkling.

“I brought you both something,” he says, and shows me a large brown paper bag I hadn’t noticed he was holding because I’d been too fixated on his face.