Jordan traced one tiny blue ear with his thumb.
“I always figured she’d probably laugh if she saw it now.”
My heart began pounding.
Stormy smiled.
“So who made it?”
Jordan looked down at the bear for a moment before answering.
“I don’t actually know.”
“You don’t?”
“My dad never told me her name.”
He shrugged.
“He just said she was the only woman he ever truly loved.”
The words landed with astonishing force.
Stormy’s smile softened.
“What happened?”
“I’ve asked him a hundred times.”
“And?”
“He always says he lost her because he waited too long to tell her the truth.”
I felt something tighten painfully inside my chest.
Jordan continued, unaware that every sentence was pulling another thread loose inside me.
“He kept almost nothing from back then.”
He looked again at the little bear.
“Just this.”
Stormy smiled.
“That’s actually kind of romantic.”
Jordan laughed. “When I graduated high school, he handed it to me.”
“What did he say?” Stormy asked.
Jordan smiled faintly.
“He said, ‘One day you’ll love somebody enough to understand why some things are impossible to throw away.'”
Jordan looked down at the little bear.
“I didn’t understand what he meant until tonight.”
I looked down at my plate before either of them could see my face.
