Until Harry - L.A. Casey Page 0,100

help that he thought about you.”

I knew that, but I felt guilty all the same. “I owe you a massive apology, Drew,” I said, keeping my gaze on hers.

She blinked her emerald-green eyes. “What for?”

I swallowed. “For how I treated you growing up when you were nothing but sweet to me. I was petty, childish and plain horrible to you for no other reason than you had Kale. I was out of order to ever be rude to you, and I should have known better. I’m so sorry; I hope you can forgive me.”

Drew stared at me for a moment, and then the corners of her eyes creased as she smiled. “You don’t have to be sorry.”

My mouth fell open, and it caused her to laugh.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Of course I do. I was awful to you.”

“I forgave you years ago.” She shrugged. “You were heartbroken, and I now know that people do things beyond their control when they are heartbroken.”

I looked at Kaden’s picture.

“He was a little stunner, Drew. You and Kale created someone incredible, and I’m so sorry that he died.”

“He’s still with us.” Drew looked from me to Kaden’s picture on his headstone, and she smiled. “He was a hoot – you’d have loved him.”

“I would have,” I said quickly.

She sighed. “I miss him every day. He’d have been nearly six if he were alive now.”

“Six,” I whispered.

“He was a mini Kale,” she mused.

I smiled. “Kale showed me videos and pictures, and I said Kaden was the double of him, but he was adamant that he looked like you.”

That made Drew chuckle, and then a long stretch of silence unfolded before Drew looked at me and said, “You need to help him.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Kale,” she said. “You have to help him. I’ve tried for years to help him find peace about losing Kaden, but he is trapped in time. Every day it’s like he relives the day our son died. It took time, but I now relive the other memories we shared with our boy. I remember the good times. When I think of him, happiness fills me, but I know when Kale thinks of him, he’s filled with sadness.”

“I don’t know how to help him,” I admitted. “He isn’t the same Kale I knew. Too much has changed between us.”

To my surprise, Drew touched my shoulder and said, “The pair of you are two sides to the same mirror. You’re the same but reflect different things. You know him, Lane, better than anyone. If anyone can help him, it’s you.”

I didn’t know if her faith in me was well placed.

“I’ll always love Kale, Lane,” she continued, “but he was never mine.”

My hands began to shake. “Of course he was.”

She shook her head. “He was yours. He just didn’t know it. I knew it, though, and I fought tooth and nail to have him when I knew I should have let him go to be with you. He chose you over me, and I know that if I’d never gotten pregnant with Kaden, he wouldn’t have stayed with me as long as he did. Kaden bonded us together, but our son was never going to keep us together. We loved each other, but he loved you more.”

“Drew—”

“The night of your uncle’s birthday party, when I threatened you to leave him alone, I followed him back to your house, and I heard him tell you he loved you and that he wanted to be with you.”

Shock tore through me.

“You did?” I whispered.

She nodded. “Instead of being mad at him, I started to hate you like you hated me. I hated you because you had his heart and I could never get it, and you hated me because I had his body and attention.”

I didn’t know what to say so I stared at Kaden’s headstone.

“I can’t believe things have wound up this way,” I said after a few minutes of silence.

Drew chortled. “Trust me, I’ve thought that for years.”

“I’m glad we’re talking about this, though,” I said to her. “I ran away to America to escape these kinds of conversations.”

“How did that work out for you?” she asked, sarcasm laced throughout her tone.

I laughed. “Not good. I still feel the same as I did six years ago.”

“Tell Kale that then, Lane,” she pressed. “Don’t leave anything to chance. You don’t know what’s around the corner for anyone. You could be here one minute and gone the next.”

I nodded. “I thoroughly believe that.”

“I’m sorry about your