Brandon's POV
I stared at her for a long moment, searching her face for any sign of hesitation… regret… doubt.
But Chloe only watched me with quiet patience. Her eyes were soft, open. Waiting.
And God help me, those eyes had always been my undoing.
I exhaled slowly, dragging my gaze to the ceiling for a second as I tried to gather memories I had buried so deep I sometimes pretended they never existed.
"She hated strawberries," I finally said.
That day she had brought a plate of fruit salad your mother had packed for her and she offered to share with me.
There were strawberries inside.
Chloe blinked.
Of all the things she probably expected me to start with, that clearly wasn't one of them.
"She would pick them out of the fruit salads and dump them on the lid," I continued, a faint smile tugging at my lips. "Then she'd grin like she'd done me a favor."
Chloe's lips curved softly.
"Did you like them? I mean the strawberries?" she asked gently.
