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Hanging up the phone, I run out the door to the car, climbing in the passenger seat as Caleb starts it. After I tell him what Rhonda told me, we don’t say much else on the drive. We just keep our hands held together over the center console.
I know he’s feeling as anxious to see Dean as I am. We won’t feel whole until we’re all together.
As we reach the nursing home, we park in a rush and jog toward the entrance. Rhonda spots us immediately. Giving us a nod, she leads us down the same hallway we walked before and stops at the same room Sal was in the last time we were here.
She slowly opens the door, and the sight is like a knife to my chest. Sal is gone. His bed has been removed and in its place, our sweet Dean sits on the floor in the corner alone, sobbing with his hands in his hair.
Nothing in the world could stop me from running to him. When he hears us coming, he looks up just before I drop to my knees in front of him. I wrap my arms around his neck and feel his face rest against my shoulder. His warm breath is on my neck as I softly stroke his buzzed hair.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asks. His voice sounds cracked and tired.
“You shouldn’t be alone,” Caleb replies, dropping onto the floor next to Dean.
“But I am alone,” he cries.
“No, you’re not,” I say, holding him tighter.
“I didn’t expect it to hit me this hard,” he says. “The nurse called last night and told me it was time. I watched him take his last breath. And then that was it. I realized I have no one. No family. Nothing.”
Pulling his face away from my shoulder, I force him to look at me. “Stop saying that. You have us, and we love you.”
“But—” he starts.
“No buts,” Caleb argues. “We are your family, and families stay together. Running from us isn’t going to make anyone’s life easier. You belong with us, Dean.”
He takes Dean’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers and bringing the back of his hand to his lips.
“I’m so sorry about your dad, Dean,” I say, wiping away his tears. “He was a wonderful man.”
Sadly, he smiles. “He was.”
“And he wouldn’t want you to be alone.”
Finally, his eyes meet mine. They are tear-soaked and raw and seeing the pain in them makes me want to hold him in my arms.
Still grasping his face, I bring his lips to mine. “We love you.”
The kiss is soft and tender, and after we pull away, he gently replies, “I love you, too.” His eyes dance back and forth between me and Caleb.
I’ve never felt anything more pure in my life. TheseI love yousare real because they are hard fought and triumphantly won. It’s a love worth celebrating.
“So come home with us,” I reply.
“Where you belong,” Caleb adds.
“Are you guys sure about this? This is a serious commitment. People won’t like it,” he mutters with anguish on his face.
“They’ll get over it,” I reply.
He manages a hint of a smirk. Then he stares at the floor before finally nodding. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”
Fifty-Two
Dean
Briar’s hand in mine is like an anchor. It’s holding me to the earth so I don’t float away into space, light enough to drift off on a breeze. I’m not made of enough at the moment for gravity to keep me down.
I’m weightless. Empty. Void of life or feelings or sense.
