Page 246 of Show Me

Dad is quiet for a moment. “People who leave usually leave when things get hard.” He nods toward the house. “That boy walked straight into hard.”

Emotion burns the back of my throat. Because he did. The notes. The attack. The hospital. Me pushing him away. And he kept showing up.

Dad bumps my shoulder. “Doesn’t mean you have to forgive everything today.”

“I don’t know how to trust it yet.”

“That’s fair.”

No lecture. No pressure.

Across the pen, Squirt flops dramatically into the straw while the piglets scramble around him.

Maybe trust doesn’t come all at once. It may come one choice at a time.

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five

Xavier

That Night

The TV mutters low from the living room while Ben sits sprawled across the couch with a beer in his hand and Sam leans against the kitchen counter, scrolling through his phone. Both look up when the door shuts behind me.

Ben’s expression tightens. “Hey.”

I toss my keys onto the side table. No smartass comments tonight. That alone tells me they know how bad this is.

I drag a hand through my hair and head for the kitchen. My entire body feels exhausted. Not physically. Deeper than that. Like something inside me got cracked open in Ruby’s kitchen and hasn’t settled back into place since.

Sam watches me. “How’s Ruby?”

“She’s home.” The words catch in my throat.

“She okay?”

I lean against the counter and stare down at the floor before answering. “Physically, yeah.”

Neither of them misses the wording.

Ben sits forward. “And everything else?”

I huff out a rough breath. “She asked for space.”

Sam winces. “Damn.”

“Yeah.” I open the refrigerator. Mostly because standing still feels impossible right now.

Ben studies me for a long second. “You moved your stuff out?”

“Yeah.” The memory of grabbing my clothes, charger, and extra boots hits hard, sending a sharp pain through my chest. “I wasn’t trying to leave.” I shut the door without getting anything. It’s all a blur anyway. “She asked for space, so I gave it to her.”

Sam rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “That probably hurt her too.”

“I know.”

That’s the problem. Everything hurts her right now. And I always manage to make it worse while trying to make it better.

Ben rubs a hand across his face. “I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving.”