He held up both hands, slowly backing away. His gaze went from me to Caelyn. “Thank you for listening. I mean it.”

She nodded but her grip on my arm tightened, and she didn’t say a word. When Dave disappeared from sight, I pulled her into my arms. “Stop taking years off my life.” Caelyn was silent, her hands fisting in my shirt—the silent tell that her emotions were running wild. I pressed my lips to her hair. “I’m sorry.”

She tipped her head back so that she could see my face. “For what?”

“Being an asshole. You needed support, and I was a selfish prick.”

Caelyn searched my face, looking for something. “I don’t handle it well when people run.”

My brows pulled together. “I didn’t run. I was right there.”

“You might as well have been a million miles away.”

My chest constricted when her voice hitched. I brushed the hair away from her face, cupping her cheeks. “I’m sorry. It’s instinct. A self-protection thing. I’ll try to be better about it, but I can’t promise it won’t pop up now and again.”

Her grip on my t-shirt tightened. “Protection? From me?”

“No one has more power to hurt me than you do.”

Caelyn sucked in a sharp breath. “And you think I’m going to? That I want to cause you pain?”

“No. Not after I’ve had some distance from it. But in the moment, all I could think about was that I’d handed you everything you would need to destroy me. I know it doesn’t make sense, but you holding so tightly to your house…it felt like you were one step from running out of my life.”

“Griffin…” Caelyn placed a hand on my chest, over my heart. “I’m not running away. I’m just being smart, practical.”

I understood it. We’d barely started dating. But I couldn’t imagine the farmhouse without the life Caelyn and the kids brought to it. “I’ll miss you when you leave. All of you.”

Her face softened. “Do you honestly think you’ll keep us away for more than twenty-four hours at a time?” She rolled her eyes heavenward. “I can already hear the whining. I want to go to the pond. I want to play soccer with Griffin. I want to work on the farmhouse. I’m never going to hear the end of it. And you know I’m a pushover.”

I grinned and tugged Caelyn closer to me, our bodies flush. “And what about you? Will you miss me? Will you whine?”

She stretched up onto her tiptoes and brushed her lips against mine. “I’ll miss your mouth.” Her fingers wove with mine. “Your hands.” Her gaze locked with mine. “How safe you make me feel.”