Some Bright Someday (Maple Valley #2) - Melissa Tagg Page 0,101
avoiding it. Even if only for Kit’s sake, he needed to step up.
And he needed to get it out of the way first thing so he could be back at Jen’s side when Dustin Hollis showed up.
The first frost of fall had visited overnight, leaving a glassy white sheen over the hardened grass underfoot. At least he’d thought to cover the gardens with tarp before he and Jen had left town the other night. Only a week and a half until the gala, but it felt part of a distant future. Too far away to dwell on with all the concerns of the present.
Kit must have seen him coming. She appeared on the porch steps, cup of coffee in hand, but she promptly set it on the wide railing and pulled him into a hug. “I’m really glad you’re here, Lucas.”
“I feel bad that I abandoned you with him for this long.”
She pulled back, not quite smiling, but not frowning either. “Honestly, I think it’s for the best. I have a feeling he could only handle the reactions of one of his adult offspring at a time.”
“Yeah, but he deserves to face both—all three—of us.”
Surprisingly, Kit chuckled. “He does. But Luke . . .” She handed him the mug, nodded to let him know she’d meant it for him. “While he’s made awful choices, if there’s one thing that’s become clear to me in the past three days, it’s that he’s been facing the consequences of the choices day after day for years. He’s been punished by guilt and regret and, believe it or not, even a sense of loss.”
Lucas lifted one shoulder. “Good.” He probably sounded spiteful, but he was too tired and too churned up to care.
“I’m not saying I’m over it,” Kit went on. “Or even that I’m ready to have some kind of relationship with him. But my wise husband reminded me the other night that carrying the burden of feeling like it’s my job to see that he’s suffered enough for his choices is just pointless. Keeps me from processing my own emotions and reactions.”
“Beckett is pretty wise.” But Beckett also had a father whose love was so evident the whole town looked to the Walker family as a paragon of kinship and togetherness. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry that I’m going to go in there and give him a black eye or anything.”
She laughed again. “Hey, don’t think I didn’t want to. Or that Beck didn’t. Or Noah especially.”
“How is Noah?” Lucas had gone from a mentor with good intentions to probably a complete failure. And the guy was his half-brother? He still couldn’t comprehend it.
“He’s . . . quiet.” She leaned on the porch railing. “You know, now that I know who he really is, I can see some resemblance. Dad’s ears, your nose.” She paused. “Again, I’m not saying I’m suddenly in a great place with all of this. But I do think there might come a day when we look back and realize that at least one good thing came from it. We know our half-brother now. I used to wish I was from a big family like the Walkers, and yet, my own family is bigger than I realized.”
Except it wasn’t exactly their family. It was Dad’s other family. But what good would it do to point that out to Kit? She’d handled this whole thing with so much more grace and maturity than he had.
“Sometimes I can’t believe you’re the younger sibling, Kit. Beck’s not the only wise one in your marriage.”
She squeezed his arm. “He’s in the kitchen—Dad, I mean. There’s leftover waffles from earlier if you haven’t eaten yet. Beckett’s already at the orchard, and he took Noah with him.”
Good. He’d need to talk to Noah eventually, but one difficult conversation at a time suited him just fine.
“Thanks.”
Kit moved down the porch steps. With a sigh of reluctance, he let himself into the house. The aroma of breakfast—maple syrup and coffee—engulfed him as he tugged off his shoes and started for the kitchen.
He found his father just where Kit said he would, sitting at the table with an empty plate and empty coffee mug, this week’s issue of the Maple Valley News open but disregarded in front of him. “Morning, son.”
Son. “Uh, Kit mentioned waffles.” He looked to the counter, opened a cupboard, and grabbed a plate just so he wouldn’t have to look at his father yet.