Thinking of Aimee made him a little afraid to see how many messages he had right now. He’d been off the grid all night, and she worked too hard to have him ignoring her calls and messages.
“I guess I’d better head to bed,” he told his parents as he moved to get up. “Thank you for everything.”
“Wait,” Mom said softly.
“Yeah?” he asked, sitting back down.
“Be careful, son,” she said. Her blue eyes were troubled.
“Of course,” he told her. “I know Cody has been through a lot already. I won’t be careless with his feelings.”
“Oh, I know you won’t do that,” she told him with a sad smile. “I’m talking about yourownfeelings. You’ve always had such an open heart. And you’re an impulsively good person.”
“I’m impulsive all right,” he said, sighing and thinking about how Cody had come to be in the first place.
“That’s not always a bad thing, son,” Dad said, leaning across the table to pat Cash’s arm.
“You should just be prepared that this couldbe tricky with Cody,” Mom said. “You’ll probably take one step forward and two steps back. He’s a teen, mostly grown, and he isn’t used to having you around.”
“Or the idea that you’re just a regular human being,” Dad pointed out. “Olivia tells us that he mentioned to one of the boys at school that you were his dad when they asked if the comments on that video were true.”
Olivia was Tag’s oldest. She would be sixteen now, so just a year past Cody in school. It was nice to think his cousin was already looking out for him, though he hoped that all of this wasn’t making things too awkward for her.
“If he thinks of you as a larger-than-life celebrity, he might not expect you to make mistakes,” Mom was saying. “And you will, believe you me. If there’s one thing that happens to every parent, it’s getting blindsided by something and falling down on the job.”
“Happens to us all,” Dad chuckled. “Most important thing is to be honest about it, and get right back up on the horse.”
“I don’t think that ever happened to you two,” Cash laughed.
“Oh no?” Mom asked. “What about the time I forgot I signed up to bring all the cupcakes for the summer camp party?”
“That doesn’t count,” Cash chuckled. “We made up for it with barrels of ice cream.”
“It’s pure luck that we make ice cream on this farm and had enough for all those children,” Mom said, clearly still feeling something about that long-ago mistake.
“At least that was innocent,” Dad put in, with ahaunted look in his eyes. “Remember the time I sent Tripp to his room without supper for stealing the tractor, and wouldn’t let him say a word for himself?”
“When it was Tag the whole time,” Cash said, still awed at the memory. “But to be fair, that wasreallysurprising for Tag, and exactly like something Tripp would do.”
“Hehaddone it the week before,” Mom said. “He took one of the dogs down to the pond for a bath.”
Cash couldn’t help laughing at the thought of it. Somehow, both Tripp and Chewbacca had come back muddier than they’d left.
“Still,” Dad said, shaking his head sadly. “I didn’t listen.”
“But you raised good kids,” Cash reminded him. “Tag broke and confessed before dinner was served. And Tripp got double dessert that night.”
“Double dessert,” Dad said fondly, nodding. “I forgot that part.”
“Anyway, you two were great parents,” Cash said. “And here you are, still on the job. But I see your point. I’ll try not to be too hard on him, or myself.”
“Atta’ boy,” Dad said.
“Sleep well, son,” Mom told him. “You’ve earned it.”
He bent to kiss her forehead before heading down the hallway to pull on his boots and coat.
When he stepped outside, it was hard not to notice the sense of peace on the snowy farm. There was nothing out there with him but the hush of the cold breeze and the sight of the mountains against a sky oftwinkling stars.
