My voice hitched. “There was so much you had left to teach me, and I hate that I’ve had to learn it all on my own. I’ve made so many mistakes.” Because despite the vile rumors printed about me, there were ugly truths, too. They were things the press wasn’t interested in. How I’d shut out the world around me. How I’d lost myself at the bottom of a bottle for at least a year. How I’d forgotten everything my parents had taught me. To be of service, to help those less fortunate. I’d turned everything around me off and lost myself in a pit of my own grief.

“I’m waking up.” I grinned down at the grass around my finger. “Mom always said we had to do things at our pace. But I’m sure Dad has been shaking his head, wanting me to hurry it up already.”

I released my hold on the grass and let it flutter to the ground. “Caelyn’s helping. I guess she always has. Ever since I saw her, and that smile socked me right in the gut. She has this way of changing how I see things. She always looks for the good. Even when things are really hard.”

My family would’ve loved Caelyn, her siblings, having the farmhouse be full of laughter and chaos…life. I felt the familiar anger rise, the heat that filled me when I was reminded of something they were missing. Something they should be experiencing right alongside me.

I breathed through it, letting the late spring air soothe away the burn. “I love you guys. Miss you every day.”

I pushed to my feet and headed for my truck. As I made my way to the school to pick up the kids, I realized the anger hadn’t stayed the way it normally did. I didn’t feel it eating away at my insides, infecting everything around me.

I pulled to the end of a long line of cars and caught sight of Mia dancing as she waited with Ava and Will. There was always music playing that only Mia could hear. And the way she didn’t seem to care if anyone was watching… God, I hoped she never lost that.

As I moved my truck forward, Mia caught sight of me and began waving wildly. Will shook his head but did it while smiling. Ava was oblivious to it all, lost in the pages of the book on her lap.

When I came to a stop in the designated pickup zone, Mia ran towards the vehicle. Will caught her by the strap of her backpack and whispered something in her ear. She scowled at him but slowed her movements, allowing Will to open the door to the cab of my truck and help her in.

“Griffin! I have something for you.”

“It’s my lucky day then.”