Chapitre 42: Chapter 42

“Okay.” Padraig smiled, feeling like he should’ve maybe skipped down the hall toward the stairs instead of walking like the middle-aged man he really was.

“You look happy,” Francis commented when he got to the kitchen.

Padraig went to get some treats for Hestia and thought about it for a while. When he finally sat at the breakfast nook chair and tried to show Hestia how to sit, he had some sort of an answer for Francis.

“I am feeling better. Less… less sad, maybe? More like I don’t have to cling to Marcus in my heart?”

“That’s progress. It’s fine to miss him, Paddy, but it’s been four years. We’ll always love him and miss him, but it can’t stop us from living.” Francis spoke to the bell peppers he was slicing, probably to roast them in the oven, if Padraig remembered anything about Francis’s favorite pasta sauce.

Something about how Francis said the words made Padraig frown in thought. Then it hit him, another sledgehammer to the chest. “You were in love with him too.”