She had tried. God knows, she had tried to get over him. To hate him. To exile him from her life. It hadn’t worked. Nothing worked.
Biyen laughed and Logan turned his head to look that direction.
“I know this package includes Biyen’s father, too. I don’t love that part, but I accept it. I won’t interfere in how you manage him, but I will hold the line on whatever boundaries you set so tell me what they are and that’s where I’ll stand.”
Was it the romantic declaration she had always yearned for him to make? No. But it was one of the most meaningful promises he could make to her. He was telling her he accepted how flawed and messy she was. That he understood her.
She wanted to hug him. She wanted him to hold her while she leaned on him and let him give her the sense that, just for a minute, she wasn’t alone in this battle called life.
She wanted to tell him she loved him. Because she did. And yeah, he was right. It wasn’t going away.
“Thanks.” She gave his arm a squeeze and cleared her throat before calling out, “Hey, bud? Can you help Logan start making supper? Your dad and I need to talk.”
“What are we having?”
“I don’t know,” Logan called. “But there is a metric ton of casseroles in the freezer up at the house. You want to walk up with me and see what looks good?”
“Sure. Maybe Emma would let me Facetime Immy and Coop.”
“Let’s go ask.”
Sophie watched them head up the path before turning her attention to Nolan and the latest boundaries she needed to set.
*
They found a vegetarian lasagna and left it on the washer while Biyen used Emma’s tablet to chat with the Kiwi kids. The timing had worked out perfectly since they’d just arrived home from their day at school.
Logan was trying to feed Storm while Emma prepared their own dinner, but Storm kept turning her head to where the kids were giggling.
“You got a bad case of fomo, don’t you?” Logan scraped the pureed yam from her cheek and pushed it toward her mouth again.
She made a face of disgust and turned her face away, then held out her hand toward the counter. “Ta? Ta?”
“Oh, that’s my bad, leaving those where you can see them.” Emma noticed the clear box of blueberries she had removed from the fridge in her search for something else. “All right. A few of these, then you eat your dinner.”
She washed a small handful and brought them to Storm’s tray.
“How’s Sophie?” she asked while she was close enough to speak softly.
“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?”
