Inside was a single sheet of paper, folded twice.
The handwriting was unmistakably Ethan's.
I unfolded it.
Dear Maddie,
Your mom asked me to promise something.
She asked me to promise that I would always be your friend, even when you grew up.
I told her I didn't need to promise that.
Because you were already my best friend.
I smiled through my tears.
Then I read the next line.
She also asked me not to make you marry me.
I actually laughed.
Through my tears.
“That sounds like Ethan.”
Mom laughed too.
But the next sentence made my smile disappear.
I told her I would never make Maddie do anything she doesn't want to do.
But I also told her something else.
One day, Maddie will choose who she wants beside her.
And if she chooses me, I will be very lucky.
My vision blurred.
I kept reading.
If she chooses someone else, I will still be her friend.
Because loving someone doesn't mean you get to own them.
It means you want them to be happy, even when their happiness doesn't include you.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
Mom was crying silently now.
“There was one more thing,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the bottom of the page.
I hadn't noticed the last sentence.
I read it.
And if Maddie still remembers the promise about prom when we're grown up… I'll be waiting at the door.
My heart broke open.
For twelve years, I'd thought I had made that promise to a six-year-old boy.
But maybe…
He had been keeping it for me.
Mom unlocked the bedroom door.
“You should go.”
I looked at her.
“You're not mad?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then she smiled.
“I was afraid of what the world would say.”
“And now?”
“Now I'm more afraid that you'll miss something beautiful because I was too scared to let you choose.”
I hugged her.
Then I ran downstairs.
Ethan was still standing by the front door.
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