Page 71 of The Life We Left Behind

He pulled back and gave me a shy smile, and I heard a sniffle come from the pink-haired woman I had yet to meet.

“Why don’t we go back into the kitchen,” Delaney suggested. I heard the sound of the grocery bag and her soft laughter before she added, “Trace brought ice cream.”

I was past being nervous now. Cade giggled, and I soaked up the sound. I had no idea what was going on, but the rest of them seemed to enjoy it.

“Don’t you like ice cream?” I asked, “Please don’t tell me you’re allergic, and I just brought you death in a bag?”

Cade laughed again, then grabbed my hand and surprised me as he pulled me to my feet and into the kitchen.

I glanced back at Delaney in surprise, and she just smiled as she followed behind us.

Even though the house smelled of pot roast, the kitchen told a very different story as it was piled with two tubs of ice cream and what looked like everything that could possibly be a topping. There were even some salted potato chips in the mix, which I wasn’t entirely convinced about.

“We’re having ice cream for dinner,” Cade declared as he went over to the table and looked at the contents.

“That seems like an excellent idea to me.”

He looked so happy. This massive life-changing event was happening and yet still he smiled. Delaney had raised my son to be an amazing kid…and I’d missed every single second of it.

I tried not to let myself slip into that place, but almost as if she could sense it, Delaney put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

“I’ll grab you a bowl. Why don’t you sit down, and we can talk?”

Cade nodded and pulled out a seat for me as he glanced at me shyly before he darted back to his bowl and grabbed his spoon. His full attention fell onto that bowl as I sat down, and I tried my hardest to hold back the thousand questions I had for him while he took a moment to figure out what he wanted to happen next.

“I’m going to head into town,” the pink-haired woman said. “Give you guys some space.”

“You don’t have to do that, Blake,” Delaney told her.

“No. It’s fine. You guys have a lot to talk about, and I saw a little coffee-slash-bookshop place that I want to check out. We cut our visit short this morning after that guy grabbed the girls.”

“You mean when you fell over,” Cade added.

She gasped in outrage. “We’re not supposed to talk about that,” she said like she was thoroughly scandalized, even though she was smiling at the same time.

“And you twisted your ankle, but you didn’t want to tell anyone,” Cade added slyly.

She narrowed her eyes at Cade. “Betrayer,” she hissed.

Delaney started giggling then, and it had to be one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard. Cade glanced at her, and Blake started to go a strange shade of red.

“Don’t you dare,” Blake warned as Cade opened his mouth.

He snapped it shut and then gave his mom a glance out the side of his eye. I had no idea what was going on, but it was the best thing I’d been around in years.

“It was your dad!” Delaney suddenly blurted out.

Cade burst out laughing so hard that I was pretty sure he was about to roll off his chair. At first, I was confused, but then my mind went back over the conversation, and my mouth fell open in shock.

“My dad grabbed your…” I couldn’t even get the words out.

Blake looked mortified and was powerless to resist the infectious laughter that was now filling the room.

“Well, I’m glad my misfortune has helped you all find a way to get closer.” She sniffed, holding her head high before she walked out of the room. I caught her faint laughter before hearing the front door open and close.

“I don’t think I want to know the full details, and yet I kinda do,” I admitted, my head tipping to the side as I thought through the dilemma.

On one hand, ew. But on the other hand, this was something I absolutely needed to share with my brothers when I got them all back, and to do that, I needed to know all the terrible details.

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