Page 142 of The Route to You

“They can be an issue.” Dad’s eyes landed heavily on hers. “Why?”

Sloan groaned inwardly. “Of course I’ll go help Penny. If I can. But . . . I just got this last night,” she said, reaching over and peeling the bandage from her arm.

Dad’s gaze traced over her arm, his mouth twitching, jaw hardening.

And this time, he didn’t even have to say anything.

Yup. I’m a screwup.

36

KYLE

For the first time at any family event, the noise was just a little too much.

Kyle had expected it, of course. Elle had just come home from the hospital three days ago, and the invasion of Winnicks and Camdens and Scotts had begun the moment Elle had gone into labor. Liddy and Callum had flown over the day that Jude was born, and Liddy had gone straight to the hospital so she could be the first to hold her new nephew. They were staying here with Mom and Dad, who were also watching Charlotte and Tara.

And while Aiden and Isla had also come from London and had wisely chosen to stay at a hotel, they’d come to Mom and Dad’s for dinner tonight too—to spend time with everyone, especially their nieces. The only ones missing were Elle and Quinn and baby Jude, since the whole family wanted to give them a few days to adjust to the new routine without the girls.

But what Kyle hadn’t expected?

How poignantly he’d feel Granny’s absence in the midst of the chaos.

And how much he missed Sloan.

He stepped onto the back patio of the house, sliding the door closed behind him. He breathed out, letting the noise fade as his hand tightened around the neck of the beer Callum had handed him a half hour earlier. He’d only taken a few sips of it.

The patio furniture was hot to the touch as he sat on it, sinking into the plush cushions. Maybe it was that everyone here was paired off with their significant other.

Maybe it was that it’d been like that for a while, actually, and that had often left Kyle sitting with Granny. She’d joke that he was her date. Her beau— even though she’d had a boyfriend in her nursing home the last few years.

Or maybe it was that over the last little while, Sloan had been such a significant part of his life that he hadn’t noticed how much he’d come to rely on her for company.

Either way, neither of them was here.

And, once again, Sloan wasn’t doing the best job communicating.

He didn’t want to push. Didn’t want to demand that she pay attention to him, especially when he knew she was legitimately busy—not only getting tests and being poked and prodded in the hospital but also because they had just started wading into the waters of a new phase of their relationship when she’d left for San Francisco.

Yet, when he closed his eyes at night, all he could picture was Sloan eight years earlier, screaming at him to get out.

He’d tried to distract himself—hung out with Jeremy and Brandon, thrown himself into getting his show off the ground, played video games online with Dean . . . and hit the gym. Hard.

Because he’d decided he couldn’t afford to turn Blue Ridge down.

The money was a factor, of course, but more than that—he needed to do this. To prove once and for all, to everyone, that he could stand on his own two feet again. Not just financially but also independently. Because, out of all the things he’d lost over the winter, his reputation and his autonomy had been the hardest.

And getting it back had been even harder because everyone—his family, his friends, and potential sponsors—viewed him from a different lens now.

He didn’t want to be reckless.

But he had to do this. For himself.

So, if Blue Ridge wanted him to race in the Teton SkyRun, so be it.

It wasn’t like they were asking him to win it. And he had four and a half months to train. He hadn’t worked up the courage to tell Wanda about it yet, but he’d be doing that tomorrow at PT, and then at his next appointment with his surgeon.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Isla asked from behind him.