Did he? “I don’t mean that you tell me what happened and then give me all the reasons about why you made your decision while I argue how you’re wrong. You can tell me how much it sucks to do the work of at least two people. You can tell me that fighting against your grams is exhausting and most of the time you wish she’d leave the company completely, but you can’t change because you’re worried about her health, and after everything, you’re not going to have the weight of Grams’s decline on your shoulders.”

“Jesus, Kate.” He released the wheel to scrub a hand over his face. “You nailed that one.”

“You do the work of more than two people, don’t you? You worry about your dad.” How many of Aiden’s duties were a CEO’s, but Aiden intercepted them before they reached Gentry?

His expression softened. “It’s better now that Kendall’s working for him.”

Except both Gentry and Kendall had bent and stretched as far as they could. They were at their breaking point. Aiden would shoulder more of the burden without a word. He’d do what he could to protect his dad and his stepmom and his grandmother. Just like he’d taken the position at the company. Someone had to do it and he wouldn’t let his mama’s memory down and coast through life. He’d ruin himself before he did that.

The magnitude of what my husband had been going through sank in. “I want to support you, listen to you, like you listen to me. But I don’t know what you need if you don’t talk to me.”

“I need you, Kate. That’s all I’ve needed.”

The lights of Billings lit the clouds in the distance. A glow in the middle of nowhere. We were almost home. He’d drop me off at Mom and Randall’s and then he’d go home. Alone. On Christmas, after he’d gotten into an argument with his dad.

“Can I stay with you tonight?”

His surprised gaze caught mine. “Of course.”

Good.

I couldn’t picture us walking into the house and then Aiden spilling his guts about his feelings over the last four years, much less the last ten or twenty. That wasn’t him. I’d have to be patient. I’d have to read him as well as he read me. Aiden didn’t use words to show people how much he cared. He used actions, and I had to learn to listen.

CHAPTER 16

Aiden

My nephews’ laughter drifted down the hall of the trailer and into the bedroom. I sat on the edge of Kate’s bed with my arms propped on my legs, answering emails on my phone.