He was always part of your life. Ever since high school, it was wrong from the start, but only he knew you and saw you as more than just a fatherless child. Your age could have blinded you and manipulated you into believing it was love. Your mother always told you that older men only wanted one thing from a little girl and to never trust them. They didn’t know Jack the way you did.

The year after graduation, you went to college and never saw him again. That was until your step-sister’s wedding when you found out he was her high school friend. It was odd how destiny brought him to you again. His wife had died in childbirth, taking the baby with her, and Anita told you that he wasn’t the same since. You had excused yourself from Kevin, claiming you needed air when all you wanted to be near him again. He was out by the terrace, with a glass in hand, and you noticed he still wore his wedding ring.

”You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, little dove?” he always called you ‘dove’ when he was either amused or mocking you. He combed his hair back, not bothering to look at you as you stood beside him.