Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Cyrus . . . that kid. His heart squeezed. He was as amazing as his mom.
“For now,” his mother repeated. “But maybe not forever?”
“Maybe. She’ll visit, and I will too. We’ll see what happens.” They’d discussed it briefly and knew they both wanted to be in each other’s lives. The logistics of that were . . . unclear. But again, her attention currently needed to be elsewhere. He couldn’t ask her to make any life-changing decisions right now. It simply wouldn’t be fair or right. And Cyrus was just getting settled in his new life and deserved stability. They’d play their long-distance relationship by ear.
“You did a hell of a thing,” his mother said. Her face was so filled with pride that he felt a hitch in his chest. “The rescue in California. I didn’t even ask what you were doing when you said you were going out of town for a few days. Too wrapped up in my own bullshit. I was always wrapped up in my own bullshit, wasn’t I?”
“You did the best you could.”
“Yeah. That might not say a lot. But . . . yeah, I did. I don’t know how I raised a man like you, but here you are, and maybe it’s proof that I have a little good in me.”
“You have a lot of good in you, Mom.”
“I’d like to hear all about the rescue from the horse’s mouth if you have some time.”
“Of course I do. Come on back inside, and take a look at your new place.”
She stood and so did he, and she wrapped him in her arms. “I love you, Rex. You’re the best thing I ever did, and that will be true until the day I die.”
He hugged her back, deciding that if he’d ever held any bitterness toward her, he’d let it go right then and there. It served nothing—he saw her in all her shades of light and dark; he had no misgivings about her faults and how those had affected him. But she’d done the best she could, and she loved him. He’d never doubted that for one second of his life.
He looked down the road, picturing Cami and Cyrus strolling through the butterflies at her farm, where she’d said she was going after they’d said goodbye, and longing rolled through him like a thunderstorm. Their time together had come to an end. For now, he whispered to himself. But maybe not forever.
And with that mantra, he found the strength to drive away from what had been his grandpop’s house an hour later and, for the second time in his life, move out of Aspen Cove. This time hurt far more than the first time had.
Chapter Sixty
Three Months Later
Cami looked at Cyrus, and he smiled up at her, giving her hand a squeeze before she lifted her arm and rapped on the door in front of them.
Footsteps approached, and Cami’s heart jumped. God, she was so nervous she could barely breathe. And she didn’t want to admit how much comfort an eleven-year-old boy’s hand in hers was giving her right that minute, but it was true. She held on tight as the door swung open.
Rex.
Oh. Oh God, she’d missed him. It’d been three miserable months without him, and she’d missed him so much. They’d spoken by phone, and by FaceTime, too, but it wasn’t enough, not even close to enough. He hadn’t been there when she’d received the news that her legal guardianship of Cyrus was granted, and that had seemed so wrong. She’d felt happy and relieved and sad and lonely, too, because the celebration felt a little less without him—joyful but incomplete. Her body leaned slightly forward, taking the lead of her heart. His face registered surprise, and he blinked, first at her, and then at Cyrus.
“Hi,” she said, the word a rush of breath.
“Cami . . . what—”
“I love you,” she said. Cyrus gave her hand another squeeze, and she cleared her throat. “So much. I should’ve told you before you left, but everything was . . . a lot, and I just thought plans were already made and so . . . but I’m here—we’re here—because we both love you, and we want to be with you. Both of us.” She looked at Cyrus. Her words were all jumbled. She’d practiced them, and they’d been smoother than this, but that had all gone out the window the moment she saw his beautiful face. But Cyrus only grinned up at her, and gave her a small nod. Keep going. “So, um, we moved here.”
He stared. “You moved here?”
She bobbed her head. “We decided that, uh—”
“We wanted you to know we meant it,” Cyrus said to Rex. “No question.”
“No question?” Rex parroted, his expression still held in shock. What was he thinking? Her heart was slamming in her chest so hard, and her face felt flushed. She’d expected . . . or hoped . . . what had she hoped? That he’d be smiling by now. But he wasn’t. And maybe—