Page 105 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

“I don’t need any more money,” he said quietly.

“So why can’t you see how selfless that makes you?” I asked him softly.

I knew the answer. I think he knew the answer too. He just wasn’t ready to admit it. Booker had been told his whole life that he was a disappointment, that he wouldn’t amount to anything. That the things he wanted were wrong. And he’d heard it so many times that he’d forgotten to remember it wasn’t true.

“Will you help me?” Booker asked. He looked around at the empty cottage, and a shy smile came to his lips. “I don’t have a clue how to make this look nice.”

“I’d love to.”

Booker gently kissed my lips, then tipped his forehead to press it against mine. “I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you, Reece.”

“We were both lucky. Everything that came before was worth it because it led me here to you,” I whispered.

“Don’t say that.” Booker held on to me tightly. “Nothing was worth that.”

“I’d have paid that price a thousand times over.” I looked up and met his gaze. “Can’t you see how lucky I am to be this in love with you?”

“Even with all the stuff going on in my family?”

“Everyone has their baggage, Booker. I think the family you’re pulling in around you happens to be a pretty great one.”

“My dad…”

“Will have to earn his place in that family if you all decide you want him to,” I told him firmly. “He doesn’t have to be in your life. Even if Trace and Delaney decide they want him in theirs. You’re allowed to have your own boundaries.”

Booker nodded, turning me to tuck me under one arm as we headed out of the cottage. “I never thought I’d be in a place where I’d think this, but I think I’m ready to hear him out. I’m not sure I can offer him more than that, but I’m willing to consider it. That’s all I’m ready for at the moment.”

“I think he’ll understand that, and at least he already knows he’s got a lot of hard work ahead of him, and he seems prepared to do it.”

Booker hummed in agreement as he stopped to lock the cottage door and then held out his hand for me, which I gladly took. He fell quiet as we headed home, lost in his thoughts, except it wasn’t as worrying this time around.

He had a lot to think through, and some decisions were ones you had to make yourself.

I trusted Booker to figure out what was right for him. He was the only one who could, after all.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

BOOKER

Ishouldn’t have been as nervous as I was. Hell, I wasn’t the only one. Strangely, it was Blake who seemed to watch everyone closely, waiting to see if anyone looked even slightly too uncomfortable.

I hadn’t noticed how much she looked out for the rest of us until today. She always hid behind her jokes and laughter. It was easy to not look too closely at the pink-haired dynamo in our midst.

Family dinner had been the strangest experience of my life because it was exactly how I’d imagined a family dinner would have been if there had ever been a moment in my childhood that was remotely happy.

After the initial awkwardness when Jasper had turned up at Delaney’s farm, we seemed to have settled into a strange atmosphere of just ignoring the issues no one wanted to discuss.

But as soon as we’d sat at the table, and as soon as the food was passed around, it was like everyone finally took a breath and relaxed.

The conversation flowed. There was laughter and smiles.

By the time Delaney stood up to get dessert, it was almost like it had always been this way.

“Pops, do you want to play catch with us?” Cade piped up. “Dad has an extra glove you can use.”

It was an unexpected offer with the innocence of a child. Jasper looked shocked, but then a smile broke across his face.

“I’d really like that. If your dad doesn’t mind,” he quickly added, looking at Trace almost pleadingly.

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