Page 80 of The Long Game

He had the sudden memory of his Uncle Winslow Matthew. He’d died when Grady was five, but he’d been a constant presence in Grady’s life until that point.

Grady was struck with a devastating thought.

What if Winslow Matthew isn’t actually dead?

A warm hand at the small of his back brought Grady back to the present, but he promised himself he’d circle back to that thought later. For now, learning Bart had supported Sam, even if only in this small way, had him curious. “Is Bart…uh…is he—”

“Cool?” Sam supplied with a wry twist of his lips.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Mostly,” Sam allowed. “He lives in Edmonton with his girlfriend.”

Grady gasped, pretending to be scandalized. “Really? He livesin sin?”

“He does. He moved in with Jessica their senior year at U of A. Mom and Dad found out right around graduation. I think it normally would have been enough to get him booted from the family, but let’s be real, Mom and Dad are running out of kids.”

Grady took a moment to digest that and exchanged a look with Jack. There was a lot to unpack. “So, they let him get away with it?”

“Nah. Not really. They call to lecture him at least three times a week and have for years. He doesn’t answer unless he needs to talk to them about something.”

Jack cocked his head. “What does Jessica think of that?”

Sam shrugged. “She doesn’t like it, but she understands it’s hard to walk away from your whole family.”

Sam and Grady shared a long look.

“Sometimes,” Grady said gently, “they don’t give you any choice.”

Sam sighed. “No, they don’t.”

Grady pulled Sam into another hug. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

“It’s not your fault they’re assholes.”

Grady smiled sadly. “That’s not it. I’m sorry I wasn’t around. I’m sorry I didn’t check in to be sure you were okay. I would have—”

“No,” Sam said, pushing out of Grady’s embrace. “Colton told me they threw you out. Told you not to come back.”

“That’s true, but I could have—”

“No,” Sam said fiercely. “They told us you weredead, Grady Samuel. They let me cry for weeks thinking you were gone. They made us pray for your soul and I thought it was so you could get into heaven, not because you wanted to dateboys, for fuck’s sake. You had no reason to come back. It’s better that you didn’t. I get that.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it again when Sam’s glare got even hotter.

“You arenotresponsible for what happened to me,” Sam said. Grady felt sick, trying to imagine what it had been like for Sam. “Our family—formerfamily—are the ones to blame. Not you. And not me. Picking at it does no good because in the end, you can’t change the past.”

Jack smiled and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “You’re a smart one.”

Sam looked bewildered. “Thanks?”

“Now, how about I go get Colton—none of us willeverhear the end of it if he’s not included—while you two get us some coffee and breakfast?”

Sam laughed. “You’re right about Colton. I didn’t tell him I was coming.”

Grady was relieved to hear that. He was hoping Colton had started to trust them enough to give a heads-up about something as big as this.

“Well, I just texted him to tell him and ask if he wanted to come over, and…” Jack held out his phone.

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