ivy’s Reviews > Great Big Beautiful Life > Status Update

“Is”—he steps in closer, the letter falling to his side—“it true?”
“About Margaret’s connection to you?” I ask.
His chin moves to the left one inch. “That you love me?”
The tears break. “Of course it’s true. How could it not be? I loved you almost instantly, before I really even knew you. Before I understood it. I trusted you, and I loved you, and I still do.”


😭😭😭

I’m not sure how to say this. I feel guilty saying it, because I think it would break her heart to hear, even if it’s true. “I think she loves me because I’m her daughter. But I’ve never felt sure she loves me because I’m me. Does that make sense?”


mommy issues hitting hard

He laughs a little, one soft rasp, and presses a kiss to the crown of my head that makes me feel volcanic, like lava is coursing down me.


LOVE HIM

Im not sure what I can say, can do, where the delicate invisible boundary between us lies. So I do what he did. I bring his hand up to my lips, my eyes falling closed as I press a kiss to his skin, smell his almond soap, and taste the salt of his sweat on the tip of my tongue. I feel his forehead bow to press against my shoulder, his free hand coming up to gently cradle the back of my neck as we stand there together.

He gazes down at me, his expression vulnerable, his usually severe features somehow diffused in the streetlight. “I don’t know anyone like you,” he says.
“I don’t know anyone like you,” I tell him.
“I’m serious,” he says, voice hushed.
“So am I,” I reply.


🫀

“You’re worried I’ll get too attached,” I guess.
“I’m worried about the work,” he says. “Neither of us can afford to be pulling punches here. If either of us doesn’t give this our all, we’ll regret it. And then we’ll resent each other for it. And I don’t know if I can handle being the one person on the planet Alice Scott doesn’t like.”


omgomgomgomg