The Love of My Life

It was a sweet kiss, like a glass of water after a week in a sandstorm or a lungful of oxygen when you thought you had drowned or a kiss from the only person on earth who had loved Luca as I did.

They deserve a moment to themselves,’ and I nodded and allowed him to guide me away from the grave, leaving

kissed me sweetly but deeply,

take our gulping sobs and blinded eyes and dissolving mascara and

and hide them from the others,

I walked on my own

he gave me the gentlest word of encouragement to throw the rose

every hope and wish and dream I’d ever nurtured tore itself up by the roots and miscarried into bloody little disasters inside me.

sat down

I hoped he was arranged