CHAPTER 64 : a moment

MELISSA’S POV

The boys giggled quietly, their earlier promise to stay silent forgotten as they eagerly grabbed slices of pizza. For a few minutes, the kitchen was filled with the sound of them munching and slurping on the juice boxes I’d grabbed for them. I leaned back against the counter, watching them eat, feeling oddly content.

But my mind couldn’t stay in the moment for long. It drifted back to Melissa, as it always did. The way she’d looked at me tonight—torn, conflicted, like she was fighting herself as much as she was fighting me.

“Uncle Knox?” Dylan’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Hm?” I looked over at him, still chewing on his pizza but now eyeing me with curiosity.

“You’re gonna stay, right?” His question was simple, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Tyler glanced at his brother, then back at me, waiting for my answer. The air suddenly felt heavier, the weight of their question pressing down on me. I wondered why they were suddenly asking about that. Perhaps they o