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Emma paused, letting his words sink in. “Thanks, Grandpa. You always know exactly what to say.”
She hugged her grandpa and kissed him on the cheek, promising to visit again soon.
Liam held the door open for Emma and Riley, lingering on the porch, waving goodbye until their car disappeared into the misty afternoon gloom.
36
Luke
After the breakup, Luke focused on putting the pieces of his life back together. As much as he missed Emma, he had to push those thoughts aside and find a way to fix things with Jeremiah.
Luke and his son had hardly spoken since the incident at the school. Although Luke tried several times, he was shut out. Jeremiah didn’t make it any easier by keeping himself locked in his bedroom, only going downstairs to eat, then right back up.
At a loss for what else to do, Luke made Jeremiah’s favorite meal: French onion soup with sourdough rolls. Jeremiah came downstairs as Luke was ladling the soup into two bowls.
“Hungry?” Luke asked, gesturing to the soup. “I accidentally made enough to feed a small army.”
Jeremiah took a seat on one of the counter stools. “Yeah.”
Luke pushed a bowl and a plate with two rolls toward him before grabbing a stool and sitting down opposite the counter. This was the moment Luke had waited for over the past month.
They ate in silence for a few minutes while Luke chose his words carefully. “Jer, can we talk and have a rational conversation, like two adults?”
“Fine. Let’s talk.”
“Thank you,” Luke said. “I appreciate your openness.”
“Now that we’ve had some time to ourselves, I want to tell you the truth about me and Emma.”
Jeremiah frowned. “But—“
“With no interruptions,” Luke said, taking a sip of his water. He inhaled deeply, then released it. “I love your mother more than anything. Even after she was gone, I couldn’t imagine the thought of loving anyone else.”
Jeremiah looked downward, stirring his soup aimlessly.
“But then Emma came along, and I learned that it’s possible to love more than one person in a lifetime. We wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how. I’m so sorry that you had to find out from a text. I hope you can forgive me someday for keeping that from you. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Luke cleared his throat, trying to tamp down the bubble of emotion rising in his chest. “We broke up. I went to her place to see if she was alright after the incident, and that’s when she ended things.”
Jeremiah’s eyes, once distant, slowly met his father’s. “You guys broke up?”
Luke gave a slow, deliberate nod. “Yes, it’s over. But tomorrow, I’d like us to take a trip back to Chicago. It’ll only be a day. I want to take you somewhere.”
Jeremiah scrunched his eyebrows. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
The next morning, they headed to the Savannah airport and flew back to Chicago. Instead of staying in their former, posh neighborhood, Luke checked them into a hotel close to Fuller Park. Its streets were lined with aged buildings, small convenience stores, and graffiti—a world apart from the life Jeremiah knew.
“Why are we staying here?” Jeremiah asked as they got to their room. “This place sucks.”
Luke shrugged. “It does. But you’ll see why soon enough.”
Later that day, Luke steered the car slowly down the streets of his childhood neighborhood.
“That’s where I went to high school,” he said to his son, pointing to an old, brick building, its windows now boarded up. He paused for a moment, remembering the sound of the school bell, the rush of students in the hallway, and the hours he spent on the basketball court, trying to master a perfect jump shot.
Luke’s voice grew softer as they approached a convenience store with chipped paint and a broken neon light. “I earned my first paycheck here. Used to stock shelves and sweep the floors every evening after school.” He laughed, recalling the owner, Mr. Peterson, who always slipped him an extra candy bar on Fridays.
