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Chapters (31)
  1. The Long and Winding Road
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
  6. PAST
  7. 1. Where Bear Makes the Wrong Assumption
  8. 2. Where Bear Finds Out
  9. 3. Where Bear Makes a Decision
  10. 4. Where Bear Learns the Art of Breathing
  11. 5. Where Bear Has Bro-Time with Creed
  12. PRESENT
  13. 6. Where Bear Attends the Most Awkward Homecoming Ever
  14. 7. Where Bear Tells Tyson Everything
  15. 8. Where Bear Makes a Promise
  16. 9. Where Bear Goes to Lamaze Class
  17. 10. Where Bear Gets Advice About His Sex Life
  18. 11. Where Bear and Otter Role-Play at a Hotel Bar
  19. 12. Where Bear Faces the Reality of Married Life
  20. 13. Where Bear Sees Everything Change
  21. FUTURE
  22. 14. The Long and Winding Road
  23. Epilogue: Or, Otter’s Perspective, As It Were
  24. Coda
  25. No. Absolutely not. No way.
  26. More from TJ Klune
  27. Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
  28. About the Author
  29. By TJ Klune
  30. Visit Dreamspinner Press
  31. Copyright

He shakes his head furiously. “I am. I can. You don’t know that about me, and that’s okay, but I do. I hate her, Bear. I hate her for everything she’s done to me. To Izzie. To you. We could have—”

“We’ll have to take care of her.” And I’m not talking about Izzie either. “You know that.”

He feels like he’s thrumming, like everything under his skin is all electric. “We don’t owe her shit.”

“No. But it’s the right thing to do.”

“We—”

“Ty. You know it is. There’s no one else.”

“She wouldn’t have done the same for us. You know that.”

“All the more reason for us to do it. Because we’re better than that.”

“We don’t have to be.”

“We do. We will. We are.”

“I hate it. I hate her.”

I don’t know what else to say.

“Bear?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m going to be sad now,” he says, his voice breaking just a little. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, Kid. That’s okay.”

He cries then. It’s quiet and soft, and it’s only a moment later that my neck is wet. The sky is streaking further, and there’s the first couple of stars appearing overhead. I watch them as a tear slowly slides its way down my cheek. It’s just one, but it’s more than I told myself I would ever give over her again. But it’s there, and I’m the strong one. I’ve always tried to be. Because I’m his big brother. For the longest time, I was all he had. It’s not like that anymore, and we’re being pulled in different directions. It was always going to happen one day—that’s the downside of inevitability. But it’s here now, and though we both know I’ll never let him go, I am going to have to take another step back. He’ll be within reach. Always. But it’s still another step away.

THE GREEN Monstrosity is quiet. It’s late, and everyone has gone home. Ty has gone home too. To Dom’s house. He was smiling and laughing by the time he left, and sure, we hugged a little harder than normal before he went, but Ben was on Dom’s shoulders, and Ty’s hand was in his when they walked down the path toward the front gate. The Kid looked back, just once, and that was it. He was gone.

Izzie’s asleep, but only after wrangling a promise from Tyson that he’d come back tomorrow. “Yeah, kid,” he’d said to her. “I’ll be back. We got stuff to do, you know?”