Page 75 of Another June with You

“Maybe later.”

They rode in silence until they pulled into Aunt Pauline’s driveway. Micah got out and headed for the front door, but Shannon motioned for him to follow her along the side of the house.

“She’s not home. She’s at our house, actually.”

“Oh.” He glanced around the yard. “Will she mind if we’re here?”

“She’s always saying ‘my house is your house.’”

They walked across the lawn—the same lawn where they’d spent those Fourth of Julys during their relationship. When they reached the dock, Shannon kicked off her sandals. Micah did the same, and they sat and dropped their feet into the water.

Micah sat close enough that Shannon could feel the heat radiating from his arm, but not close enough that they were touching. She was grateful for that, because she wasn’t sure she could handle him touching her right now. Everything still felt so raw and exposed, especially after the news from Jamie this morning. She was dying to tell Micah, to have someone to talk to about it. But she wasn’t sure she should share Jamie’s secret.

Micah suddenly let out a little chuckle.

She looked over at him. “What’s funny?”

“I was just thinking about the last time we were here. How I threw you off this dock.” He had thrown her over his shoulder and carried her across the yard to prove he would in fact throw her in the lake if she didn’t stop picking on him for the way he placed the food on his plate—foods just were not meant to touch, in his opinion, even though Shannon’s Great Aunt Betty had told him it all went the same place in the end.

The memory came rushing back, and she laughed. “I like to remember the part that came after you threw me in.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Yeah, that was fun.”

Making out in the lake while the fireworks lit the night sky above them. Yeah, that was a memory she liked to think would remain clear and strong in her mind.

His expression turned serious. “I’m leaving for Virginia tonight.”

That wasn’t what she thought he would lead with, but she knew it was coming. She knew he was going home soon. The wedding weekend was over, and it was time to return to his real life.

“With Autumn?”

“She had an earlier flight.”

Shannon skimmed her foot across the surface of the water.

“You were wrong about her.”

She looked over at him again.

“She doesn’t have feelings for me. I asked her point blank, and I know her. She would never lie to me. I asked that of her from the start, and she knows how I feel about honesty in relationships.”

Shannon winced.

“That wasn’t a jab at you. I understand why you weren’t honest with me, why you didn’t tell me about your diagnosis back then. You were trying to give me the best life I could have, at least the life you thought you couldn’t give me. But did you ever stop to think maybe it wasn’t your decision to make?”

“Not at first,” she replied sadly. “I thought it was the only way. That if I let you go, you could find happiness with someone else, someone who could give you the family you wanted.”

He moved his arm and rested it on the dock behind her so it was against her back. A shiver moved over her body.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that alone. If I had known, I would’ve been there for you every step of the way.”

“Duncan brought me to the church the other day because I had an appointment with my doctor. Some abnormal cells came back in my regular exam. I was so scared, Micah.”

He scooted closer, tucking her into his side. “What did the doctor say?”

“Everything’s fine. She wanted to be safe rather than sorry.” She glanced over at him then out at the lake. “The thing is, because I’m at a higher risk for certain cancers, I’m always worried this thing is going to kill me.”

“You can’t live your life in fear of something that probably won’t happen.”

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