“It’s going to be a constant adjustment.” Logan shrugged philosophically. “She”—He glanced at the back of Biyen’s head—“She’s thinking about leaving,” he whispered.

Emma’s eyes almost fell out of her head.

“Don’t…” He motioned toward Biyen.

“No, I know.” She chewed the corner of her mouth, as filled with consternation as he was. “What about…” She searched his eyes, still speaking under her breath. “Are you two…?”

“I’m not sure.” It said a lot about how much Emma had become like a sister to him, when he found himself saying, “I don’t want to push her because…” He shrugged to indicate his past mistakes. “But I really want to push her.”

Em’s mouth quirked with sympathy.

“Ta?” Storm’s blue hand opened and closed while she looked to the fridge.

“You’re not going to eat anything else, are you?” Emma stroked Storm’s hair and started to lean down to kiss it, but stopped to look at the smear of orange in her palm. She made a face, then said wryly, “I’ve picked up worse off you, though, haven’t I?”

She went to wash more blueberries.

*

Sophie had the oven preheated when Logan and Biyen got back. Nolan had gone to have a beer with friends so she left Logan making a salad and said to Biyen, “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Am I in trouble?” Biyen asked as they started toward the beach.

“No. Am I?”

He giggled. “No. But I thought you might be mad that I keep coming home from camping.”

“You can always come home to me. I’ll never be mad about that.”

“Is this our home, though?” he asked with a worried pull of his brow. “Isn’t it Gramps’s house? Like, what happens now?”

“Oh, bud. I didn’t realize you were worried about that. I should have explained.” She was starting to think Nolan had actually thought he was reassuring Biyen when he told him he could live with him. Nolan wasn’t canny enough to be passive-aggressive or tough enough to be aggressive-aggressive. He was water, always looking for the path of least resistance.

“Gramps and I made wills after you and I came to live with him. He made sure the house will become mine. There’s a bunch of government stuff like probate and taxes and title transfer that I will complain about for ages, but this is definitely our home unless we decide to live somewhere else.”

“Do you want to?” His anxious gaze came up to hers.

“I don’t know.” They reached the beach and stepped down from the grass. Sophie moved to sit on a weathered log. “What do you think of that idea?”

“I don’t know.” He dropped to his knees and began pushing his hands around in the dry, coarse sand. “Would we live with Logan?”

“Logan doesn’t have a house at the moment, so that would be tricky. Also, Logan and I have a lot of things to work out before I would want to live with him.”

“He told me that you used to be mad at him and then he apologized.” He drew a circle all the way around himself. “Couldn’t Dad apologize, then you not be mad at him?”

“He could.” He fucking well could and good luck waiting for that particular corner of hell to freeze over. The man had seen absolutely nothing wrong with telling Biyen he wanted to live here with them and putting it on her to tell Biyen that it was never going to happen. “I’m not really mad at your dad. We think differently and that makes it hard to spend a lot of time together. It’s like how you and Immy and Cooper got along really well, right away, but you don’t always want to play with JayJay, even though he’s right here and wants to play anytime.”

“JayJay only wants to play video games. I like to go outside.”

“Exactly. You guys are different and seeing each other at school feels like enough.”

“But you and Logan are more the same?”

“We have a lot in common, yeah. We have similar values.” Logan would always pay a bill and pull his own weight. She knew that. He treated her as an equal, whereas Nolan treated her like a convenience store.

“Would you marry him?” Biyen asked.

“Honestly? When I was growing up, I was sure that I would marry him someday. Then he went away and I had you and I stopped imagining that.” She wasn’t ready to go there again. The ground was still too soft, the bruises still tender. “For me to marry anyone would be a huge decision that would affect you so I would want your opinion before I did anything like that.”

“I like Logan.” He shrugged. “He’s funny sometimes.”

Sometimes. Sophie would be sure to let him know it was only sometimes.

“Would you guys have a baby?”

“Whoa. Buddy. We are a long way from talking about babies. Why?” She caught the slump in his shoulders. “Do you want a little brother or sister? Babies are a lot of work, you know. They cry and make a mess.”

“I know. Storm cried so much in Vancouver. But she was happy to see me when we went over for the lasagna. She tried to crawl to me, and when I sat on the floor by her, she put her head on me.” His shoulders came up to his ears and he grinned with goofy pleasure.

“She’s a cutie-pie, isn’t she?” Maybe it was time to seriously consider a dog.

“I’m old enough to help you with a baby,” he pointed out. “I don’t want to change one. Not a poopy diaper,” he said firmly. “But I could read to them and play with them. I think you should think about it.”

“Oh, do you?”

“Uh-huh. Then when I go away to college, you would still have someone here. Unless you were married to Logan. I guess that would be okay, too.”

He was such an innocent sometimes, then he turned into Gramps, carrying the wisdom of a lifetime.

“What about Dad?” he asked.

“What about him?” She tensed.

“He doesn’t know where to live because you said we might not stay here.”

“I know, but he is a grown adult who can make his own decisions. It’s okay that he’s talking to you about it. I’m doing the same thing, asking your opinion because it affects you, but you don’t have to fix anything for your dad. I already told him that if he needs some money for rent, I’ll do what I can to help him with that.”

“Okay, but like, I like to see him and usually I like camping, but right now I feel like I need to be at home with you. This is a really sad time for us.”

God, she loved him. Tears welled in her eyes and her lips started quivering, making it hard to speak.

“It really is,” she agreed, mouth wobbling.

“If Logan wants to stay with us, we should let him. He’s really sad, too. But Dad keeps trying to cheer me up. I feel like I have to be happy when I’m with him, even though I’m not.”

“Not everyone knows how to act with someone who is grieving. It’s never easy for anyone. It’s okay to tell your dad you want to have some quiet time in your room, if that’s how you feel, but we do have to talk about one other thing. Now that Gramps is gone, I can’t leave you home all by yourself while I’m at work.”

“Logan said I could help him tomorrow.”