The next morning, Logan woke to the sound of tires crunching against gravel. Sitting up in bed quickly, he turned to the clock. Almost ten in the morning. He thought of Paris and jumped out of bed. He hadn’t slept well, even though he’d obviously overslept. He’d wanted to see her again before he left. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, he’d made a plan. He would leave. He would do All-Stars, then leave. He couldn’t fix this.

The past was too much. But he wanted to tell her he was sorry. And he wanted to tell her what an amazing person she was.

Getting out of bed, he went out the door quickly, thinking he might be able to stop her at the end of the driveway. He rushed through the house, to the front door, swinging it open and jogging a couple of steps onto the gravel.

She was gone, already out of sight. He cursed. He stood there for a moment.

“What are you gonna do, son?” Her father was at the front door, a hand shielding his eyes from the sun and staring down the driveway.

He felt ashamed in front of her father, for all he’d done. “Leave. Let her have a life without all this baggage.” He shrugged, feeling hopeless. “I can’t—” He broke off, not having the right words.

“Come back in and I’ll make you some breakfast. We should talk.”

Logan followed him back in the house. He didn’t know if he should be nervous or not. The way her father had said “we should talk” didn’t sound good. Going into the kitchen, he tried to help, but her father batted him away.

“Go, sit. Tell me what you and Paris talked about last night.” He didn’t look at Logan, but focused on the task of cooking bacon and scrambling eggs.

Logan did as he was told. It was kind of funny: Logan was all grown up, but her father still treated him like he was eighteen. And his memory was only eighteen. Well, had been eighteen. He didn’t want to think about everything they’d talked about. He sat heavily in the chair.

“Don’t want to talk about it, huh?” Her father glanced up at him.

“Nope.” Dang it, he really wanted to see Paris before she left this morning.

For a couple of minutes neither of them spoke. Her father finished the breakfast, then put two plates at the already set table. He sat and bowed his head and said grace. Logan bowed his head too.

When Paris’s dad finished, Logan turned to him, knowing what he had to do. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Ford. For everything I did. I … I’m sorry.”

Paris’s dad stared at him, giving him an up-and-down look. “I know, and I forgive you.”

Logan nodded, feeling humbled and grateful for him.

Paris’s dad sighed. “I’ve been thinking you need to go see your father.”

After a brief, tense moment, Logan picked up his fork. “Mr. Ford, have you forgotten that he’s dead?” Logan took a bite of eggs, wishing his father had never lived.

Paris’s dad grunted, then picked up his fork and took a bite.

They both dug into their food for a minute before her dad turned back to him. “Forgiveness.”

Logan paused mid-chew. “What?”

Her dad took a large sip of water. “It’s a circle, see. Remember the preacher the other day talking about faith?”

Logan nodded.

“All of God’s laws are a circle. Christ died on the cross and he did it because he had faith in God’s plan for man. But his last words were, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ Then all the commandments about love and forgiveness. It applies to fathers, mothers, sons, daughters. Everything is a circle. Maybe a spiral.” He grinned. “Think about it like the perfect throw. You pull it back, you let it go, and it spirals through the air. The spiral starts with you, like faith, like forgiveness, but to get anywhere, it needs other’s faith, other’s forgiveness. For someone to do anything with the ball, they need all these principles.” He clapped his hands together, looking pleased with himself. “Yes, God grants us forgiveness through grace. Then he tells us to forgive ourselves, and others.”

Logan didn’t know what to think about all the faith, forgiveness talk. “O-kay.”

Her father leaned back and crossed his arms. “Logan, you’re like a son to me. And you messed up in life.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

“I know you are sorry. In fact …” He let out a sigh. “You’ve been sorry a long, long time. I think that’s why you kept getting worse and worse.”

Logan frowned.

“When people forget about faith and forgiveness, they forget who they are. They forget about the big guy upstairs who created them and His laws.”

Warm chills washed over him, and Logan felt emotion bubbling up in his throat.

Her father leaned forward and reached out a hand, gently putting it on Logan’s. “You lost your way, but you’ve been given a chance to fix this.” He flashed him a grin. “I think my daughter still loves you.” He poked Logan’s chest. “And I love you.”

Moisture filled his eyes. “I love you, too, sir.” His voice was broken.

Both men laughed at the tenderness of the moment.

“So what are you going to do?” her father asked.

Logan found himself filled with purpose. He stood. “I’m going to go see my father.”

“Yes.” He smiled. “And then you’ll have to go see Shane.”

The prospect flooded him with worry and shame, but he knew her dad was right.