Chapter 4: Emotional Pollen

We walked together across the same football field from the old photograph.

I could already see him fighting tears because his jaw kept tightening the way it always did when he got emotional.

“You promised you wouldn’t cry,” I whispered.

“I’m not crying,” he muttered. “It’s allergies.”

“There’s no pollen on a football field.”

“Emotional pollen.”

I laughed so hard I nearly missed the moment everything changed.

At first, the woman rising from the crowd didn’t seem unusual. Parents were standing everywhere to wave at their kids or snap photos.

But she didn’t sit back down.

Instead, she walked directly toward us.

Something about the way she stared at me made my stomach tighten instantly. Her eyes moved across my face like she was trying to memorize every detail.

She stopped a few feet away.

“My God,” she whispered shakily. Continue Reading ⬇️