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lips.
    “There is nothing you can say to change this . This is what needs to be done, my dear. It is, unfortunately, the way things will be.”
    “What about AJ?” she asked, her eyes shooting up at him.
    He returned her stare for only a moment, as fear clouded the clear beauty that she had always possessed and he wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, but knew it would give them away. He could not let Max’s loss today be in vain.
    “Will he remember me?”
    “Yes,” Benjamin said. “That will be his penance for being part of this scheme, where a human knew he existed.”
    He glanced up at AJ, who nodded in approval. He didn’t want to forget Addie, no matter how painful.
    “I’ll give you a moment to say anything you need to say.”
    He rose from his crouch near Addie and walked over to the window with the others. They stared outside and granted minor privacy for what AJ expected would only be moments.
    AJ swiftly moved to her, kneeling down in front of the woman he loved with his whole heart. He rested his hands next to her thighs on the couch. He hadn’t been able to look in her eyes, to see the pain that had all been caused by a simple car ride down a road into this town just months before. If he had known that he’d be putting her through this after all she’d been through when he first laid eyes on her that sunny day, he might have chosen to high-tail it out of town before he even arrived.
    “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
    Tears choked his voice as he ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her head closer to his with trembling hands. Encompassing her face with his strong fingers, forehead to forehead, Max could make out the tears both of them were shedding.
    “I’m so sorry to put you through this.”
    “Shhhh ,” she whispered back.  “I’ll remember you somehow. There’s no way I couldn’t. No way I couldn’t remember this.”
    AJ knew it wasn’t true, but wanted to believe it as well. He kissed her forehead and pulled her into an embrace. Kissing her wasn’t an option – not with the elders there. They squeezed each other tightly as if letting go meant the end of life for both of them. In a way it did.
    AJ heard Benjamin turn and knew he had to let go. He stood up, holding Addie’s hand as he towered over her seat on the couch. She was shaking the way one does when fear and anger overtakes the body. Benjamin took her other hand in his. AJ felt Max’s hand on his shoulder and part of him wanted to shake it off.
    “What’s going to happen?” Addie whispered, scared of her pending loss. “Will it hurt?”
    “No dear,” Benjamin replied with a soothing smile. “You’ll simply get tired and go to sleep. When you wake up, it will be foggy. You will be a little lost until you figure out where you’re at in time, as the last thing you will remember will be before AJ came to town a few months ago. You’ll probably be scared or worried for a bit until a doctor visit assures you you’re fine and not crazy.”
    AJ cringed – crazy. Of course she’d think she was crazy. Crazy like she would go back to remembering her mom as. She’d forget what she had learned about her mom and go back to hating her. All of the good that had happened recently would be gone.
    “And then?”
    “And then life will go on as you know it.”
    She looked over at AJ, goodbye written all over her face. If Robert leaving had been hard, this moment was merely impossible. She almost couldn’t bear to look at him anymore, even if in moments she wouldn’t remember him. Almost.
    AJ watched as her eyes began to drift, as she fought the urge to sleep, only wanting to look at him as long as she could. AJ’s body tensed as every emotion she felt was pushed into him and he hated Benjamin for it. He felt every moment of love and joy combined with every moment of hatred and anger over everything that had happened to her because of his arrival in town. AJ observed it all, locking it within himself as