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“And you’re doing that because you want to?” he asked, seeming incredulous.
“Believe it or not, I do want to. Your dad told you I was sick for a long time, right?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”
“Thank you. It was a drag. The whole time I was sick, all I could think about was getting back to my old life, which included school.”
“And my dad.”
“And your dad.”
Caden was quiet after that, so Lexi waited to see if he might say anything else.
A full minute later, he said, “He’s a really good dad. A great dad.”
“Yes, he is. All he talks about is you and how proud of you he is.”
“That’s nice,” Caden said with a smile.
“Can I say something?” Lexi asked.
“Sure.”
“I love your dad. I really, really do. I have since I was about fifteen, if I’m being honest. I never stopped loving him the whole time we were apart. But you—you’re his whole life, and I’d never do anything to get in the way of what you two have together. I promise you that.”
“I’m not his whole life.”
“Yes, you are, Caden. He’d choose you over anything and anyone.”
“I want him to be happy.”
“I do, too, which means we both want the same thing. What do you say we work together to make that happen?” She extended a hand to him and held her breath, waiting to see what he would do.
When he reached out to shake her hand, Lexi exhaled.
“I hope you and I can be good friends,” she said.
“That’d be cool.”
“I think so, too.”
ChapterTwenty-Seven
“Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise,
the amazement of the Gods.”—Plato
As he drove the moving truck to St. Johnsbury, Max wondered what was up with Caden wanting to stay with Lexi while he was gone. Once he was in Colton’s truck on the way back to Butler, Max said as much to his brother.
“I thought that was odd, too, especially since you just got home,” Colton said. “I heard he and Mom had a lunch date at the diner. Maybe she had something to do with it.”
“He made a nice card welcoming both of us home. I didn’t expect that either.”
“He’s trying to make room in his life for her, in his own seven-year-old way.”
“It’s very sweet of him.”
“I’m sure it’s a relief, too,” Colton said. “Since he didn’t take her initial presence all that well.”
