“Love?” I laugh, clacking my gum between my teeth again. “I mean, I like Crew. But what is love, right?”
“Oh, Echo.” Dad shakes his head, reaching out and taking my hand in his. “You’re always so logical when it comes to certain things. But love isn’t something you can define when it's different for everyone. And the way you love one person doesn’t distinguish how you love another. Love is not as clear as you would like it to be.”
“That’d be too easy, right?”
Dad shrugs, looking at me with a soft smile. “You wouldn’t want it if it was. Always a fighter.”
He knows me too well. “Well for the record, I tried to hate him.”
“Mm-hmm.” Dad squeezes my hand. “Made you fall harder though?”
“I don’t even know how—”
I fell in love.
Why can’t I say it out loud? Still, when he’s not even here?
“What’s there to know when it comes to love?” Dad brushes the back of my hand, and I look back up at him. “It’s not an emotion defined by rational thinking. It’s inyour heart—like faith. It’s in your soul. You can’tknowlove, but that doesn’t mean you won’t feel it.”
“And feelings should be trusted?”
“More than your mind most times.”
“Why?” I bite my lip.
“Instinct.” Dad pats my hand. “You’ll rationalize anything if given the chance, but what really matters can’t be explained in simple terms. You knew that walking in here.”
I did. When everything rational told me to walk up to Rhett and keep my promise, I waited in the pew to talk to Dad instead. What’s safe, what’s right—it doesn’t matter. Crew is all that does.
“Does he love you?” Dad’s expression softens. “Does he make you happy?”
I nod, blinking a tear free from my eye.
“Then there’s nothing left to think about, honey.” He brushes the tear from my cheek.
“But what about you?”
“What about me?” Dad lets out a light chuckle.
“We made them a promise. Max helped save your life, and I’m just going back on my end of it.”
“Echo, one of my greatest regrets was placing that burden on you when you were younger. I was a dying man, scared of the world I’d be leaving you to with your mother also gone. And I let fear drive me to make a bargain I’d take back if I could.”
“It got you your heart.”
He nods. “It did. But that’s beating fine now.I’mfine now.”
“You still have expensive lifelong treatments. Max helps with those; he funds the church. He does it because we’re going to be family.”
“Won’t we still?”
I swallow hard, the lump settling in my throat. “I don’t know.”
Crew and I haven’t been clear on what this is. He says he loves me now, but I’m not sure he’s any more capable than I am.
“Doesn’t matter anyway.” Dad shakes his head.
“Why not?”
