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The shock fades slowly from Kyle’s face, turning resolute. “As far as I’m concerned, my father died when I was four. True or not, what Carl told you doesn’t change that.”
I nod. “Okay.” Then glance at the ground, trying to figure out what else to say.
“Want to go see the calves?”
I look at him, an involuntary smile forming. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“I also sorta have a surprise for you.”
Kyle turns and heads into the barn without saying anything else. My eyebrows rise as I follow him, immediately intrigued.
I’ve never been inside the central section of the barn, just the outdoor bay, where the tractor is parked. It’s filled with an assortment of junk, and it smells like hay.
He leads me to a far corner. The sunlight streaming in from the open door barely reaches all the way back here, the air stagnant as well.
There’s a soft snuffling sound that grows louder the closer I get to the small pen that’s been set up, constructed of a few wooden boards and a stack of straw. I stop and peer inside, my eyes widening as soon as I spot the tiny piglet sniffing the wood shavings that line the bottom of its enclosure.
Its skin is pink with a few gray spots decorating its back.
“Farmer down the road had a litter of them and was trying to get rid of some. This guy was the runt no one wanted.” Kyle pauses. “I’ve been calling him Wilbur.”
My eyes prickle.
I told him that story what feels like forever ago over a grilled cheese. And just like my obsession with discovering bands no one has ever heard of, my decision to not eat meat is a part of my life that’s always felt like something others acknowledged, but never fully accepted.
Except him.
Kyle keeps talking, oblivious to the emotions swirling inside of me.
“He’s cute and tiny now, but he’ll get huge. Four, five hundred pounds. No clue where I’ll keep him. I’ll have to build him a shed out in one of the south—oof.”
He’s not expecting me to leap on him, obviously. But Kyle recovers quickly, his arms tightening around my back as I wrap my legs around his waist.
“Thank you,” I whisper into his neck. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before.”
“Bought you a pig? I’m not surprised.”
I laugh, then pull back so I can see his face. Trace the small scar in the center of his chin. “Gotten me,” I say. “No one has evergottenme. Not like you do.”
His expression softens, then turns serious. “It’s probably because I’ve been a little bit in love with you ever since you told me you hated my twang.”
My breath hitches. “You’re a little bit in love with me?”
He smiles. “No. I’m so crazy in love with you that I don’t know what to do with myself.”
I smile back. “I’m really glad to hear I’m not the only one.”
I press my lips to his and think the same thing I did the first time we kissed.
Like coming home.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
KYLE
My father lives in a huge house.
It’s strange to know that. To knowanythingabout the man who contributed to my DNA. I know the head of Empire Records is rich and successful. But it’s different, realizing that also applies to my biological father.
