wasn’t going to stop hurting or stop missing Clay, not for a long, long time.
But I was still here. I was still breathing, still living.
And I didn’t want to shy away from the pain as I moved forward.
It reminded me of all that was, all the powerful emotions I’d felt with Clay in the time our lives were tangled together. I never wanted to lose those stinging lashes of pain, never wanted to forget how it felt to be held by him, touched by him, kissed by him.
Loved by him.
Maybe I didn’t get to have him forever.
But I’d hold on to every little piece of him that he gave me for the rest of my life.
And after, too.