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She brushed her hair out of her face. “What if she wants to go back to Indiana?”
“We’ll discuss it as a family. Your opinion matters, too.”
Her lip curled. “It didn’t matter when we moved here.”
“It was all you’d ever known, but it wasn’t my home. There was nothing for me there—except for you. I thought it would be best to make a go of it here. If you go to school in the fall and you really hate it, then we’ll talk about it. I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have options.” I didn’t want to be my dad.
She nodded. “Is there another reason you moved here?”
I thought it would be good for Kendall to spend time with her grandparents, to live in a small town versus a city. “No, why?”
She chewed her lip. “You used to date Sophie.”
“That’s right. But we broke up ten years ago. It’s rare to marry your high school girlfriend.” At one time, I thought we were the exception to the rule.
“But you loved her.”
“I didn’t even know what love was back then.” But that explanation fell short. I’d never felt what I had for Sophie with anyone else, but then, I also never got that close to anyone again. What was the point when I could move at any time? It was convenient to keep things light.
“Did you love my mom?” Her forehead wrinkled.
I sighed long and hard. “We never dated.”
Melanie had told her some version of this before. We never tried to make a go of it because I was already deployed to Germany.
“I’ll explain more when you’re a bit older.”
Thankfully, she didn’t ask any follow-up questions. “Miss Ellie invited you over to hang out with Drew today.”
Kendall’s eyes lit up, and I was relieved she seemed to have forgotten our conversation.
“You want to go?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“I’ll drop you off this afternoon.” I reached for the coffee mug and took a sip.
“You’re not staying?” Kendall asked, her voice full of disbelief.
“You’re nine, and Ellie said she’d keep an eye on you.”
She looked pleased. It was good for her to have some independence. And I trusted Sophie’s family to watch out for her.
Thankfully, today wasn’t one of the days that Kendall had a lesson with Sophie. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see her right now. I certainly wasn’t ready for a continuation of our conversation this morning.
Guilt crept in. What if I walked away not understanding what had happened? Wouldn’t I always regret it? But I wasn’t quite ready to hear the truth.
I should have gone to work on Sophie’s shelves. I needed to do something active to keep my mind off things. Instead, I organized our house, unpacked more boxes, cleaned out the garage, and washed the truck.
When it was time to drop Kendall with Ellie at Travis’s house, I was exhausted physically and emotionally.
When Kendall knocked, Ellie answered. “Drew’s in the basement.”
“Thank you,” Kendall murmured, walking past her and disappearing downstairs.
“Are you okay with me dropping her off?” I asked Ellie.
“They’ll just play video games, but I’ll make sure they eat.”
