I walked over and crouched down, asking her softly, “Are you afraid your mom will catch you eating ice cream?”
Alicia nodded as her big eyes darted around.
“Why don’t I he
you hide?” I asked.
She hesitated and studied me for a while.
After she was sure that I wasn’t a bad guy, she nodded.
I picked her up. She was so small, and she quickly nestled into my arms.
Alicia’s small hands were playing with the buttons on my suit before she asked in her childish voice, “Uncle, do you know me?”
My throat felt like it was clogged up by something bitter.
Suddenly, everything in front of me seemed to blur.
If I could turn back time to that year, to that night.
I would never have let all of that happen.
Christine would be my wife.
We would have gotten married in Gold City and had a daughter.
She wouldn’t be called Alicia Shore.
She would be Christine’s and my daughter..
I tilted my head back and forced down the tears. Then I smiled at her. “Of course, I know you.
Π
1/2
Chapter 16
+25 BONUS
“Then do you know my name?” Alicia asked.
She wrapped her tiny hands around me and whispered, “I’ll tell you a secret. My name is Alicia Shore. My Daddy, Landon Shore, and my Mommy, Christine Lane, kissed and had me.”
“Is that so? That’s a wonderful name,” I remarked.
I gently kissed her on the cheek, “Alright, we can’t hide for too long. You’ll make your mom worry.”
She nodded obediently. “Then I’ll take one last bite of ice cream. Just one.”
She took a very large bite before she shot me a mischievous grin.
I ruffled her hair, “Go find your mom.”
I watched as she ran off, jumping into Christine’s embrace.
I did not spare Christine a second glance.
I was afraid that I would make a fool of myself in the middle of that crowded restaurant and start crying Christine wouldn’t care about anything related to me, but Landon would definitely find me pathetic.
The first half of my life had been such an absurd and amazing journey.
Yet, in the second half of it, all of that turned into delusion
