Page 75 of I Loved You First

“Good.” She handed it to him. “It’s for you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now I know all about Seattle.”

She nodded. “I think it’s safe to say you’re a Seattle expert.”

“Yup.” He set the book on his lap. “I’ll go there when I go to Ms. Stella’s house again.”

Her brow furrowed when she realized Brady didn’t understand that Seattle wasn’t down the road. “Ms. Stella lives in Maple Ridge just like you. In Vermont. I have to fly on a plane to get to my house because it’s much farther away.”

Getting up, she went back to her bag, grabbing the simple United States map she’d doctored up and laminated for Brady, bringing it over to him.

He smiled. “Hey, that’s me and my dad. And that’s you.”

She nodded as he studied the pictures she’d shrunk down and printed out—one of Cam and Brady grinning when the three of them had gone for their lake swim this past Sunday and one of her on a sunny Seattle day with the Space Needle in the background. “You and your dad live here in this state. Vermont.”

“That’s why our picture’s here?”

She nodded again. “Exactly. And my picture is in the State of Washington where Seattle is.”

“You put heart stickers on the map.”

“I did. There are a lot of states between us, but these hearts connect our pictures.”

“I like this map.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

“Can we put this in my room so I remember where Seattle is?”

“Sure.”

Brady carried the map as they walked upstairs.

“Where should we put it?”

“On my side table so I can look at it when I go to bed,” he said as he set it down.

“That looks like a great spot.”

Brady stared at the map. “When you go to Seattle, you’ll come visit me again?”

She nodded, sitting on the bed. “Definitely.”

“Maybe on the days when I’m not at big kid school when I go to kindergarten?”

She exhaled a quiet breath as she stared into his eyes. He was breaking her heart. “I won’t be able to come every day that you’re not at big kid school. But I’ll come home for a visit at Thanksgiving and Christmas. You’ll be so busy with big kid school and your friends that you’ll blink and I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

“What do you say we head to the store before it gets too hot? We have lots of things to buy for your sleepover party.”

He gasped. “It’s time to get the balloons?”

She laughed. Because he’d been asking for days. “It is.”