Shane nods. “I just want to meet him. We can tell him the truth when the time is right.”

“Exactly.”

“I was thinking…” He takes another bite of his burger. “Maybe on the way back, we could stop off and I could buy him a present, you know? What sort of thing do you think he would like?”

“He loves baseball, but it’s too cold to play now.” I think for a minute. “Honestly, these days, he mostly likes his Nintendo.”

“I could buy him a game?”

“They’re so expensive though.”

Shane flinches. “Well, maybe I could—”

“Shane.” I reach for his hand, but at the last minute, I pull away. “Just relax. All you have to do is talk to him and maybe play some Nintendo with him. He’s an easy kid. He’ll like you.”

He smiles sheepishly. “Okay. Sorry. This is just really important to me.”

“I know. But trust me—it will be fine.”

Josh is an easy kid, and I’m sure he’ll like Shane. The hard part is going to be explaining to him who this man really is, and why we have kept it from him for so long. How much of the truth can we tell him? I don’t want to lie to him, but he’s ten years old. I don’t know if he can handle the entire truth.

I guess we’ll play it by ear.

Chapter 45

After we get back to my house, the first thing Shane wants to do is take a shower. When I give him the go-ahead, he makes a beeline for the upstairs bathroom, and then he’s in there for over half an hour. He comes out looking like he just spent the day at a spa.

“That was the best shower I’ve had in ten years,” he announces. “I got to make the water any temperature I wanted. I could spend as long as I wanted in there. And I wasn’t naked next to five other guys.”

“Sounds great,” I laugh.

He looks down at his watch. “So the bus should be here soon, right?”

“Pretty soon.” I took the day off from work and I gave Margie the afternoon off as well. “It probably will come in the next ten minutes.”

“Okay…” He rakes a shaky hand through his damp hair, then looks down at his blue jeans. “Do you think what I’m wearing is okay?”

He is so adorably nervous. I walk over to him and place my hands on his shoulders. It’s the first time I have touched him since he walked out of the prison, but it feels right. “Don’t be nervous. He’s going to like you. I promise.”

“How do you know?”

“Because.” I grin at him. “You’re a likable guy.”