The Boy I Never Had

Eden:
Griffin has been the quiet complication in my life since high school-steady, serious, and always a little too aware of me in ways no one else noticed. There were moments back then, quick and charged, that nudged me toward him, but nothing ever happened. He left for the military before I could face how much I didn't want him to go, and when he came back, everything between us shifted. He had a future without me, and I taught myself to fit around the edges of it. I pretended it didn't hurt.
Leaving felt like the only way to escape what I'd never said.
Now I'm home again, and Griff is a father to a little boy who attaches himself to me instantly. Griffin looks at me like he remembers every unspoken moment we left behind-and I'm realizing time didn't erase anything; it only made it heavier.

Griffin:
Eden was always someone I felt before I saw-my sister's best friend, too sharp and soft in ways I shouldn't reach for. Before I enlisted, there were stretched-out seconds and weighted silences we never named, and walking away was harder than I admitted.
Life happened. Responsibility. A future I didn't plan. Eden stayed like a steady pulse I tried to ignore-until she left, and I told myself that was cleaner.
But she's back now, and nothing feels settled. My son gravitates to her immediately, and I understand why. When I look at her, I feel every moment we never let ourselves want.
But my past isn't finished with me... and I'm not sure how many pieces of her I can afford to lose again.