Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Reese nodded. His cheeks were stained slightly pink from his tears. He wiped them away, gathered himself, and said, “I wouldn’t hate it…”
“Hate what?”
“You and Dad being together. I mean, you are together, and I don’t hate it, but I wouldn’t hate you being like, my stepdad or whatever. I don’t know if you would want that, but—”
“I would,” Clint admitted. “I would very much want that if you and your dads are okay with it. I kinda feel like my life is really starting for the first time at forty-two.”
“I forget how old you guys are,” Reese replied, and they chuckled. “Thanks for being my friend too. I don’t always make them so well, and when I do, eventually they stop hanging around.”
The poor kid. It was so hard to fear abandonment, to feel like you weren’t quite enough. Clint vowed to himself to do whatever he could to never make Reese feel that way. “Like I said, you’re stuck with me now, and I gave you a whole list of people who feel the same. I know Deke, Grady, Roe, Holden, Colby, and Vince would all feel the same too. Family doesn’t have to be about blood.” And that’s what they were in Briar County. Found family. Even if they left, he knew he could count on the people here to have his back, and now that they’d taken August and Reese in, it would be the same for them.
“Can we work on Dad’s flowers again? I need to think.”
“Yep. We absolutely can. Let’s do this.”
They worked together, side by side, until August returned to pick Reese up, and when they were heading to the vehicle, Reese stopped, turned to Clint, and hugged him. Clint wrapped his arms around Reese too, and yeah, this was what he wanted, what he’d been waiting for—August and Reese.
August’s eyes were glassy as he watched them, and Clint knew that Briar County or Florida, everything would be okay. Together.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
August
Reese was quiet on the way home. He had his earbuds in, leaning his head against the window as they drove. A million questions sat at the tip of his tongue, but he knew Reese well enough to see that this was one of those moments where he didn’t want to talk and needed to sort through his thoughts alone. August wasn’t always good at not pushing. He wanted Reese to know he was always there for him, and sometimes, that had the opposite effect of what he wanted, so this time, he just reached over and placed his hand on his son’s forearm. When Reese used his other one to give August a supportive squeeze, he knew it’d been the right move.
Lewis was on the porch when they arrived. Butter lay beside him and immediately jumped up and ran to Reese. She sensed when her person needed her. That was one of the many miracles of dogs, of animals in general.
Reese loved on her while August headed for the porch, fear rooting deeper into his gut. Maybe they’d fucked up. Maybe they shouldn’t have given Reese this choice. Maybe it was too much for him. Like always, he second-, third-, and fourth-guessed himself, and wondered if that part of parenting ever stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Lewis asked, concern etched into the lines in his face.
“I don’t know.” And yet somehow he did. Reese had made his decision and was nervous about sharing it with them.
“Can we go inside and talk?” Reese asked when he hit the stairs.
“Yeah, of course, kiddo,” August answered.
“Absolutely,” Lewis added.
The three of them, along with Butter, made their way into the living room and sat down.
“My therapist has been trying to get me to tell you guys something for a few weeks, but I’ve been scared,” Reese started, making August’s heart drop to his gut, getting buried there.
“You can tell us anything.”
“It’s nothing bad. It’s just like…about me…how I feel and stuff…like I’m not good enough or like people don’t really like me. I know you think I don’t make friends, but I do. It’s just that something about me makes me not keep them…like they all get tired of me and don’t want me, like maybe there’s something wrong with me.”
“No. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you,” Lewis said, beating August to it.
“Sometimes I think I pull away first, before they can. That’s what my therapist says. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy or whatever. And when you guys separated, that’s what it felt like—someone leaving me, or that you would eventually. In my head I know that’s not true—I think—but in my heart, I don’t. I was mad at Dad for taking me away from you, Pop, because it just told me that everything I feared was true and no one would ever stay. That eventually, everyone moves on from me.”