“She does,” I say and wait for him to get into the truck before I get in and start the truck. “You are going to behave for Gammy Charlotte and Gramps Billy, right?” I ask, and he just nods.

“Gramps Billy said he’s going to take me fishing,” he says with a huge smile on his face. With all this shit around us, my boy finally got himself a grandfather who would die for him without batting an eye. If it’s the weekend, you know that Ethan is going to be with Billy any day he can. The two are thicker than thieves.

“Did he?” I ask him as I pull up to the house and see that Charlotte is sitting on one of the rocking chairs she put outside with Billy next to her. The both of them are smiling when they see my truck. Billy is the first one to get up and walk down the two steps toward the truck.

Ethan opens the door as soon as I put it in park and turn off the engine. “Gramps,” he calls him, “I’m here.”

“That you are, my boy,” he says, leaning down and kissing him on the head. Charlotte is coming down now.

“Now, don’t you give him all the love,” she says, and Ethan walks over to her and hugs her around her waist and looks up at her. “I think you’ve gotten taller,” she says, and he nods his head. “It’s a good thing I just put the pie in the oven.”

His eyes light up. “Is it apple?”

She looks at him. “Is there any other kind of pie?”

“Nope,” he says, and she kisses him. I grab his bag and hand it to him. “Bye, Dad,” he says to me and comes to give me a kiss before running back to Billy, who takes his hand and walks inside.

“Is everything set?” Charlotte asks, and I nod.

“I think so,” I say, and she smiles at me, coming to kiss my cheek.

“It’s a long time coming,” she says, and I nod to her as she turns to walk into the house after Ethan.

When I walk into the house, I yell for Kallie right away. “I’m in the kitchen!” she yells, and I find her putting away the groceries. “Well, hello there.” She smiles when she sees me, and I walk over to her and take her in my arms.

“Hello there,” I say, and my lips find hers. Since the first day she came over, she hasn’t left. I mean, she tried to, and well, she lost that battle.

“Did you drop off Ethan?” she asks, always wondering about him, just another reason to love her.

“I did,” I say. “Your father is taking him fishing.”

“Oh, he’s going to love that,” she says. “What did you want to do for dinner?”