“He wouldn’t want you to be holding on to that. You know he never held on to anything negative. That wasn’t his way.”

When he didn’t look at her, she gently turned his face to hers.

“I hear you,” he said. “But it’s hard.”

“I know.”

He met her gaze. “You too?”

“Oh, yeah.” She gave him a grim smile. “When my parents sent us home, I was furious. Even though they’d promised to follow us and arrive as soon as they could, I didn’t understand.” She drew a deep breath because it was always hard to think about, the memories of how awful she’d been. “I just saw it as they were dumping us because we were too much trouble. I told them they were terrible parents who were tired of lugging their children around, so they were sending us away to be selfish.” She let out a long, shaky breath. “They died before I got to talk to them again, to tell them I loved them. That I was sorry.”

“They knew,” he said firmly.

She gave him a small smile. “Because you want it to be true for me?”

“Because you’re an amazing person and they knew that, or they’d never have trusted you with Winnie and Gavin.”

She’d never looked at it that way, but it did soothe something deep inside her. They had trusted her. And now . . . now Gavin was in recovery and Winnie was pregnant at twenty. Yeah, she’d done a bang-up job.

“None of that’s on you,” he murmured, and squeezed her hand again.

Maybe not. But it was going to change her world, in a big way. Because the Mannings were a unit, like it or not.

They remained silent for a long few minutes, no sound except the water lapping at the boat, the squawk of birds, and the occasional buzzing of an insect.

“You’re going to be okay leaving this place that you love?” he asked. “For Colorado?”

She looked around at the gorgeous, lush green rolling hills edging the lake, dotted with ancient oaks and the occasional lost cow from neighboring ranches. “Living here isn’t exactly a hardship. And I love my job. I love helping people. But it’s . . . immediate, so there’s no closure. I want to do more.”

“You’ll make a great physician assistant.”

She wasn’t sure she’d get the chance now, but she played along. “How do you know? You’ve never seen me in action.”

“Actually, I have.”

She laughed. “In your bed doesn’t count.”