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"Jesse?"
"Mm?"
Winnie's head was on Jesse's chest. In the tent, lantern light burning low, it felt as though the whole world had closed up around them. The air was warm. Jesse's breathing was slow. Winnie felt like the moment was about to split open like a flower, unfurling overnight.
"I'm about to ask you something a little heavy, okay?"
"I'm ready." Jesse's hands were stretched out above him, holding up the rock he had picked out somewhere along the path. He was admiring it now; Winnie made note of it, intending to see how long it would stay in his pocket when they returned to the road in the morning.
"Do you miss Thomas?"
And Winnie felt Jesse's breath pause at the top of the arc. "Sure do," he said, then, his chest deflating like a balloon. "'Course. I– sometimes more than others."
Winnie rolled over to one side, her cheek pressed against Jesse's stomach now. She brought a hand up to rest by her lips.
"I forget about him, sometimes," Jesse continued quietly. "If you can believe that. And then I'll see a little boy out and about somewhere, and then– well, then I miss him like hell. 'Cause he's not– a little boy. Not anymore. But I don't think I'll ever get to see him as anything but."
"What do you do, then?" Winnie asked, forefinger rubbing a little line into Jesse's shirt. "When you miss him too much."
The tent was quiet for a moment too long. But then Jesse's hand came around to rest on Winnie's head, and he spoke. "I do something else, I think." he said.
"Mm."
Outside, it began to rain. Slowly, like the sky wasn't sure. Raindrops dappled the outside of the tent, and the soft percussion tapped out a rhythm that, as heard from the inside, blended nicely with the sounds of Jesse's fingers scratching softly through her hair.
"I miss being an uncle," he said.
Winnie sniffled, then smiled against his stomach. "I'll bet you were the most troublesome uncle a boy could have," she said, gleefully, like she wasn't staining his shirt wet with tears at all. "I'll bet you were his favorite."
Jesse's stomach stuttered a breathy little laugh.