I think it hurts me more than it hurts Luke. For him, she’s not a factor. For me, she should have been. I can’t wrap my head around missing him growing up, but I’ll never shame her for it, and I’ll never gatekeep our son so long as she isn’t hurting him.

“We need to talk about the reunion, Cade,” my dad says. “Come for lunch? You and I can do some planning.”

“Willa too!” Luke is already dragging her up to the house, his tiny hand clamped around hers.

“It’s her day off, pal,” I remind him, seeing the line between everything blur and desperately trying to keep it in place.

She glances down at Luke and over at me. “It’s okay. I don’t need a day off from you, buddy. You’re one of my favorite people in the world.”

My heart stutters in my chest, and I suck in a sharp breath. The way Luke smiles, the way he stands just a little bit taller, makes the bridge of my nose sting.

I scrunch it up and give it a wipe before looking away. Then I stride to the house, head down, so no one will see the emotion in my eyes.

But I don’t need to look at my dad for him to know. After all, who knows their son better than a single dad? Before he retired, we spent long days on the range together, so it’s damn near impossible to keep anything from each other.

“You’ve got it bad, boy,” is what he says, clapping me on the shoulder as I move past him.

And he’s never been more right.

25

Willa

Cade: Just need like ten more minutes.

Willa: Any guesses on whether or not I put panties on this morning?

Cade: I’m sitting with my dad right now. I don’t need a boner.

Willa: No panties. My kitty is too sore from riding your massive pole.

Cade: Woman, are you intentionally ignoring my instructions?

Willa: You don’t tell me what to do. I thought we’d established that by now?

* * *

“Willa! Let’s go.”

My head whips around at the sound of Cade’s authoritative voice, barking at me like I work for him. Like it’s not my “day off” and we didn’t spend the entire night fucking each other’s brains out. I shake my head and widen my eyes down at Luke.

“We should hide from him,” Luke says, instantly dropping the sidewalk chalk. We’ve adorned the entire front driveway with hearts of all different colors, shapes, and sizes.

I nod. “Absolutely we should.”