Page 117 of Tanner

Tanner rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and looked at Savannah. She was sitting on her knees on the chair, eating the onion ring in small, determined bites. Safe. Here. Not packed into a car and driven somewhere else.

“Fine,” he said. “Tell Sarah I’ll come in and talk to her.”

Cody pointed at him. “That’s a yes. Don’t try to back out later by pretending I misunderstood. TJ’s here as a witness.”

“I just said it.”

“I’m still covering my bases.”

They left twenty minutes later after extracting a promise from Savannah that she’d save Cody a drawing next time and telling Tanner he’d text Sarah before he got home. Once the door shut behind them, the house went quiet again and this time Tanner didn’t mind it.

Savannah started yawning halfway through her cartoon. Miles took her to brush her teeth and put her in her pajamas while Tanner cleared the kitchen and stacked the court papers properly in the folder instead of leaving them spread across the table. He tucked the folder into the drawer by the fridge where the important things lived now. School forms. Doctor letters. Appointment cards.

When Savannah was asleep for the second time that day and the lights were low, Tanner stood at the back door with his hands in his pockets and looked out at the yard. It needed cutting again.

Miles came up beside him but didn’t crowd him. They stood there for a minute without talking and then Miles said, “I love you.”

Tanner turned his head. “You do?”

Miles kept his eyes on the yard. “Yeah, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Tanner swallowed once. “Yeah.”

Miles glanced at him then. “That all I get?”

Tanner’s mouth twitched then he smiled. “You already know I love you.”

“I do.”

Tanner leaned one shoulder against his. “Good.”

The next morning, after Savannah was dropped at preschool, Tanner walked to the diner with an apron folded under one arm because Cody had texted to say Sarah kept spares but “turn up looking prepared and she’ll like you more.” Tanner hated that he’d taken the advice. He hated it more that he’d ironed the damn thing first.

The bell over the diner door rang when he stepped inside. It was between the breakfast and lunch rush, quiet enough that only two tables were occupied. Sarah was behind the counter with a pen tucked into her hair and an order pad in her hand. She looked up, saw him, and nodded toward the back.

“Coffee first,” she said. “Then we talk.”

Tanner stood just inside the doorway for a second with the apron in his hand and the smell of coffee around him. This town had been the place he came back to because he’d run out of better options. Somewhere along the way it had shifted while he wasn’t watching.

He walked to the counter and put the apron down. This time, he was choosing it too.

Epilogue

One Year Later

Miles let himself into the house with his key and shut the door quietly behind him. The place smelled of whatever Tanner had burned. A pair of small trainers sat kicked off by the mat. A child’s coat hung from the low hook by the door, half twisted because Savannah still missed it on the first try when she was in a hurry. Drawings were spread across the fridge with magnets that didn’t match. One was all pink circles and a sun in the corner. Another had three figures holding hands, one of them taller than the other two.

It was quiet in the good way. Just the sounds of a house being used by people who knew where they belonged in it, including Miles. He’d sold his house and moved in with Tanner and Savannah. There was no point having the house when he was never there.

He carried the groceries through to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway before saying anything.

Tanner was at the table with a GED prep book open in front of him, practice sheets spread out to one side, pencil working across the page with the same focused expression he wore when he had to take something seriously. Miles knew Tanner had plans to go to college and he fully supported him.

Savannah sat beside him with a workbook of her own open the wrong way round and a green crayon in her hand. Every few seconds she looked up at Tanner, then back down at her page, whispering letters to herself under her breath.

Miles put the grocery bags on the counter without banging anything, took a bottle of water from one bag, and slid it across the table toward Tanner.

“Give me two minutes,” he said.