I nodded through the phone, becauseyeah, she’s right. I would’ve done that.She was protecting me from myself, from my need to swoop in and save the day.Instead of speaking, I gave her space to continue.
“And maybe I did it the wrong way. Maybe we could’ve struggled through it together and found our way. I don’t know. I didn’t want to deprive us of that time together, but at the same time... You told me once that you needed to figure out who you were without being the guy in love with Brooke Meadows. Well, I needed to figure out how to be me—a version of me—who was worthy of you. A me who had worked through my depression to a point that I could cope and was fully ready to be someone’s partner. Because you deserve a partner, Cade. Someone who can communicate with you, not just run away when feelings are too big or situations too uncertain. I needed to work on myself before I could be that partner you deserve. I fully realized there was a good chance I might lose you. That you might meet someone else, and find happiness. And—I was okay with that. Mostly. Because—even when I can’t show it, your happiness is important to me. I wanted you to have a happy future, with or without me.”
“Youaremy future, B.”
“Why do you make it seem so easy, dealing with me?” I heard a crack in her voice.
“Itiseasy to love you,” I responded firmly. “There’s nothing hard about loving you. Trust me, I’ve been doing it my whole fucking life,” I said on a chuckle. “Easiest thing I’ve ever done. Loving you is as easy for me as breathing.”
45
BROOKE
One month later
Whit and I unloaded our cars in front of the charming bungalow. The sides were covered in buttery yellow siding, and the bright red front door beckoned our entry.
“What do you think?” I asked, gauging Whit’s reaction.
I glanced at the Lake Realty FOR RENT sign in the front yard. We’d both seen pictures of the place, and Owen had taken us on a FaceTime tour when his realtor friend Trevor had shown him the place.
Whit nodded contemplatively as she surveyed the exterior. “The yard needs a little love. I think that’ll be my project,” she mused.
“Think we can pull this off?” I asked her.
She slung her arm around my shoulder. “Absolutely we can. Ivy is with Mr. and Mrs. Adler, being spoiled rotten. And Owen and Bryan took Cade on a boys’ camping trip. We’ve got this.” She picked up a box and walked up the two front steps to the porch.
“Hey, Whit?” I called.
“Yeah?” She turned back.
“You know I couldn’t do this without you. I couldn’t dolifewithout you. You’re my sister in every way that matters.”
“Well lucky for you, you don’t have to. C’mon, enough with the mushy stuff. We’ve got less than two days to turn this place into a home.”
We lugged boxes inside. Thankfully the sprain to my wrist had been relatively minor, and I was back to full movement again.
After many protests, Whit convinced me to take the master bedroom and bathroom and let her and Ivy have the two front bedrooms, which shared a bathroom between.
“It’ll be better for me to have the room right across from her,” she said simply.
While we waited for the movers to arrive with our furniture, we unloaded dishes and hung our clothes in the closets.
An hour after we’d arrived, I wandered into the kitchen and found Whit sitting on the window seat that overlooked the back yard, her legs curled up under her.
“This was always my dream, you know,” she said wistfully. “A house with a window seat.”
Whit didn’t talk much about her life before her adoption, but I knew she’d spent some time in foster care, dreaming of a life with a family and a home. In a lot of ways, this move was as important a step for her as it was for me.
I pulled her hand. “Come on... let’s go work on Ivy’s room.”
It was a busy two days.
Whit and I blasted our favorite movie soundtracks while we cleaned, unloaded, and organized.
I’d planned this surprise for weeks, organizing the rental through Owen, interviewing for and securing a nursing job at an outpatient hospital in River Bend—everything I needed to set my life up in Vermont.
We were taking a break and surveying our progress when my phone made its telltale text-alert chirp.
