The Thing About Love

“Because I love you,”

“You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?”

He pretended to consider this. “Well, with all the emotions flying around, it just feels . . . expected.”

“But I’ll be gone. A lot. And you’d be left alone, in a place that neither of us thinks of as home. It’s one thing when I only had myself to think about, but it’s not the life I want for us.” He smiled tenderly. “Somebody has to be around to teach our gaggle of towheaded girls how to make fire with the ass end of a lightning bug.”