Bloom

I Hope That...

Reign and I spent the entire day reading H's diary. I only have a handful of entries left before it's over. Before this part of his story comes to an end. It's a big part of his life, ten years, an entire decade written into the pages of this diary. Only a handful of entries to read before I have to go find H and give him his things back. Pity, I loved getting to know him this way.

Reign and I didn't get home last week from North Shore until late. The sun had set, and we were exhausted. Exhausted and sunburnt to hell. We haven't touched the diary or photo albums in about a week. We have a sort of unspoken agreement to let it be and savor it because soon it'll be over, so we're taking it slowly.

We tried asking mum about H again, but she told us that's really all she knows. He would come over when she was young, spend time with them all, and eventually, he just stopped. Just like that.

I didn't like her answer, so I called Grammy. "Hi, little loves, how are you?"

"We're good, went to North Shore last week," I smiled and asked how it was as she shows us her plate full of pastries and other sweets.

"Look at these macarons, aren't they beautiful?" she coos.

"They really are, I love them," Reign tells her.

"And look at this view," she flips her camera to show us the Eiffel tower in the distance. "Did you know I went to see this when I was in my late twenties? I came here with H and our other friends. We went sightseeing and walked the streets. It was a perfect trip, I'll never forget it," I can hear the fondness in her voice at the memories along with the twinkle in her eye.

"I saw some photos that you took while you were there, they were beautiful, Grammy," I tell her.
She sighs happily and takes a bite of a bright pink macaron. She's taunting us now, I just know it, the cheeky thing. "Alright, I know you didn't call to watch me eat macarons, what did you need, dear?"

"I know you told us that you won't tell us anything more, but I just have one question, I promise it's not about their story," I say honestly.

"Alright, ask me then," she says.

"Did H have more diaries? Is this the only one he wrote? It can't be, right?" I ask nervously, afraid of the answer. This can't be it; it just can't be, I won't accept it.

Grammy smiles and nods her head. "Yes, he has more diaries,"

"He does?" Reign asks, excitement infiltrating her voice as she puts her hand over mine on my phone so that she's more in the shot.

"Oh yeah, loads. He never stopped writing. He wrote before I knew him and well after I stopped seeing him as often. He has dozens and dozens of them," she waves her hand around as if the diaries would pop up like magic.

"Why did he stop coming around? Mum said that she remembers him when she was young, but not so much after," Reign asks boldly.

Grammy draws her lips into a line. "It's not that he stopped coming around, he just...played a smaller role in her life. We had a sort of disagreement about things and what certain people should know and so he backed off a lot and took more of a spectator role. He was still heavily involved in our lives, just... less so mine I guess you could say,"

"That sounds... sad. You two seem so close in these letters," I hold up the diary and look at the doodles once again.

She tsks and waves her hand. "We were, we still are. Nothing bad happened, we didn't fall out, I just let him be who he wanted to be and have everything he wanted. He did that for me earlier in life and it was the most selfless thing I've ever seen someone do, I owed him the same,"