“It doesn’t erase what happened. But you’re doing the hard work now—the work most people would run from. You’re owning it. You went to rehab, you’re staying sober and you’re putting one foot in front of the other. That’s more than most people do. And it’s the only way forward.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. “What if I mess up again?”
“You won’t,” Ryan said firmly. “You’ve learned from this. And if you do stumble, you’ll get back up. That’s what matters. Diane, Dad, Audrey. They don’t need you to be perfect. They only need you to keep trying. And that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“Thanks, Ry. I needed to hear that.”
He smiled as he drove past the brick welcome sign at the Shelter Springs town boundary. “I’m glad you were able to make it home for Christmas. And Audrey is over the moon.”
“I’m afraid it’s going to be a bit of a ramshackle Christmas. Dad invited us for dinner tomorrow night so I don’t have to worry about that part of it, but I’ve done nothing else toget ready. Poor Audrey won’t exactly have an unforgettable Christmas.”
“She will have exactly what she wants most. Her mom.”
When he pulled into the driveway of her small rental house a short time later, her eyes widened.
“Oh. Someone decorated the house. Was that you?”
“With some help,” he said gruffly. “Holly and Lydia Moore gave us a hand a few weeks ago. Audrey wanted to make sure you didn’t have to worry about anything except enjoying the holidays when you came home.”
She sniffled, wiping her eyes with a tissue she pulled from the pocket of her hoodie. “How did I ever get so lucky to have such an amazing daughter and wonderful friends like Holly?”
He only smiled in response. He had hardly put his truck in Park when Audrey flew out of the house and yanked open the passenger door.
“Mom!” she exclaimed.
Laughing and crying, Kim climbed out and wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace. “Oh baby. I missed you so much.”
“I’m so glad you’re home, Mom. I missed you, too.”
“The house looks wonderful. And you decorated the tree!”
“Lydia and I did it,” Audrey said. “Holly helped, too. And she and Uncle Ry hung all the lights out here.”
“Everything is magical. Thank you for going to all that work.”
She was admiring the lights in the bushes and the wreath on the door when a car pulled into the driveway behind his pickup.
Ryan stiffened when he recognized his father’s Cadillac SUV. He saw his father in the driver’s seat and, to his surprise, Diane in the passenger seat.
That had only begun to register when Doug climbed out and hurried up the porch toward them. To Ryan’s shock, hisnormally stoic father wore his emotions on his features as he reached for Kim and held her in the same kind of tight, almost desperate embrace Kim herself had given Audrey.
“How wonderful that you made it home, Kimmy.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She hugged him back, her eyes tightly closed. The love between his father and his sister was as clear as a candle glowing in a frosty window, warm and unwavering.
Something hard inside Ryan seemed to shift and settle as he watched them. As a teenager, Kim had been as bitter as he was about the choices their father made. She had been so upset that she had run away, into the arms of a man who had dragged her further into the seedy underbelly of drugs and addiction.
Yet somehow, despite everything, the two of them had managed to heal the rift between them.
Why was it so easy for Kim to forgive? She had every reason to stay angry. More than he did, really. Their father’s decisions had pushed her into a downward spiral, and yet here she was, finding solace in his embrace.
He wanted to believe it was as simple as time but he knew better. Time alone didn’t heal wounds like that. Forgiveness required something deeper, something he couldn’t seem to muster, no matter how hard he tried.
His father’s voice, low and steady, carried through the December air as he whispered something to Kim. The sight made Ryan’s chest ache. Maybe it wasn’t merely time that had healed their relationship. Maybe it was something he had never let himself consider.
The possibility that their father trulyhadchanged.
The thought unsettled him. How could he let go of the resentment he had clung to for so long? If he didn’t, was he destined to remain on the outside, watching others find the peace he couldn’t?
