Final Breath

Five

Tessa rings the doorbell just as I decide to cook dinner for Tyson and I.
She's wearing a regular sweatshirt and dark blue jeans that are ripped at the knees, concluding the look with white sneakers. Her strawberry blonde hair is now up in a ponytail, even though it's naturally in beach waves.
'Hi,' she whispers in greeting as I slowly reach out to give her a hug. I can still hear Tyson laughing at whatever he's doing in my room. His laugh is super cute and contagious. I'm going to miss it.
Tessa smells like lavender and cocoa butter lotion, and I take in her scent slowly and deeply. She chuckles once she realizes what I'm doing, burying her face deeper into my shoulder.
'I love you, Ty,' she says, now close to tears as she eventually pulls away from me.
'I love you too, Tess,' I reply, stroking her face and trying to keep from crying as well.

'Does he know?'
Tessa and I are in the kitchen now with Tyson watching TV in the living room. I hear another Disney Channel show on, one I don't recognize at all. I decide to join him once I finish cooking the chicken gravy recipe I saw someone from YouTube make.
'No,' I reply softly, 'if you haven't noticed, Tyson literally worships me like I'm his God or something. He wants to be close to me all the time. I still don't understand why that is, but I'm definitely not complaining.'
'Are you afraid of what his reaction is going to be when you do tell him?'
I don't say anything as I glance over at the crock pot the food is still cooking in. There's still two and a half hours left before it's done.
Thankfully, Tessa uses my silence at her question as the confirmation she's looking for. She lets the conversation go after that, promising me that she won't say anything to Tyson before leaving me alone in the kitchen to finish cooking.