“I don’t want to go, Daddy.”

“I know you don’t, buddy,” I tell Jack as we head out of Faye’s home, “But Braxley isn’t feeling well. We gotta let him rest.”

He yawns and holds on to my hand as we close the front door and walk to my car. I buckle him in and can tell he’s exhausted, which doesn’t surprise me. Those boys ran themselves ragged. Looking in the rearview mirror, his eyes are already closed. It won’t be long until he’s out.

On the drive, I find myself thinking about Faye and the way she came on to me tonight. It was out of the blue. I had no idea she was ready to do anything, and I’m not complaining. I fucking want her bad, but I’m also hesitant. I’ve seen the way she’s freaked out when she goes to that dark place.

Thinking about when things get more involved because they will, I’m stressed what’ll happen. Will she accept it and be okay with things, or will she shut down and push me away?

Pulling into my driveway, I put the car in park and look back at Jack—he’s out cold. Walking to his door, I open it and then unbuckle him, lifting his small body into my arms. He’s limp in my hold.

Taking him through the front door, and into his room, I pull back the covers and lay him down in his bed. He doesn’t move as I slip off his shoes, contemplating having him change into his pajamas, but I don’t. What’s it matter, really?

As I cover him up, I’m startled by Char standing behind me. “Can I say goodnight to him?” she asks.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I whisper, pissed off.

“I need to see him, Thane.”

“He’s exhausted, let him sleep.”

“Please?” she asks again, and I gesture her out of his room, so we don’t wake him up fighting. The poor kid has seen enough fighting between the two of us in his lifetime.

“Please, Thane, don’t keep him from me.”

“I’m not keeping him from you; you let him get hurt. You can’t just come into my home like this.”

“I used to live here too,” she argues.

“And then you left us, so this is no longer your home.”

“Where have you guys been all day?”

“Don’t worry about it. What we do is not your concern, Charlene. Now, you need to leave.”

“Please, Thane,” she touches my arm and steps closer to me. I yank it away and tell her, “Now.”

Tears pool in her eyes and she says to me, “He’s gonna hate you for this.”

“For what? I haven’t done shit. You know, since he hurt himself, he hasn’t once asked about you. So if I were you, I’d get your shit together before it was too late and you ruin what little relationship you have left with him.”

She tries to touch me again, and I yank away. Any feelings I had for Char are long gone. As she walks out of my house, I’m not surprised that she did something like this. Char is a spur-of-the-moment kind of woman. Just like our Vegas wedding—she got the idea and ran with it. Locking the door, I’m glad she left quietly, and Jack didn’t have to see us fight.

With Char gone, I find my mind is immediately on Faye. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I text her, How’s Braxley? Then grab a beer and flop down on the couch, kicking my shoes off and lying back.

He just fell asleep. I think the poor guy was just exhausted.

Jack, too.

I’m sorry I tried to kiss you, she texts me, and as I stare at her words, they kinda piss me off. Dialing her number, it takes a few rings before she answers. In a shy tone, she says, “Hello?”

“Are you really sorry?” I ask her, feeling a little wounded.

She exhales into the phone, and I wait for her response. “I…I don’t know what I am, Thane.”

“That’s okay with me, but I don’t want you having regrets.”

“Can I tell you something?” she asks.

“Of course.”

“Sometimes…” she trails off, and I give her a minute, letting her tell me in her own time. “Sometimes, when we’re together, I can feel Ben…”

“What do you mean?” I ask her, confused.

“I don’t know; it sounds crazy to even say out loud.”

“Nothing you say is crazy.”

“It’s like I can feel him pushing me towards you.”

“You can?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“I think so. At times, I can feel him more than others, more than I have in the year he’s been gone. But it’s always like he’s giving me a feeling of reassurance when you’re around.”

Hearing her tell me this is hard to comprehend. I haven’t lost someone so close. I’m not sure how to respond or how to process it. But what I do know is that Ben was her life. I can see the way her eyes light up when she remembers him, so if I can bring a sliver of that back to her, then it really isn’t such a bad thing.

“Maybe Ben brought us together,” I tell her.

“You think?”

“Possibly, if you think about it. The boys have been in school together now for two years, and we’ve never run into each other until this year.”

“I guess you could be right.”

“Well, yeah, I always am,” I joke with her and she giggles.

“So it doesn’t creep you out, what I told you?”

“No way. I admire your strength and the way you say what you feel. Nothing you could do or say would creep me out. It’s not like you snuck into my house the way my ex did tonight to try and see Jack.”

“What the hell? She was in your house?”

“Yup, she said she’d been here all day too.”

“Oh God, Thane, what did Jack say?”

“He was sleeping, so he didn’t see her.”

“Wow, that is straight crazy.”

“Right? She needs the straitjacket.” I sip my beer and get lost in our conversation. Talking with Faye is easy. I’m hopeful that this is just the start of us moving past that barrier that was holding us back. When she was ready, I wasn’t, and when I was, she wasn’t.