“Don’t let her,” Pops says.
My throat tightens. “She won’t listen.”
Pops’s gaze holds mine. “She listens more than she admits. She just needs someone who’ll stay in the room when she tries to burn it down.”
My pulse spikes.
Pops keeps going, quiet and steady. “Cam’s going to try to be strong. He’ll break in private. Check on him.”
“I will,” I promise, voice rough.
Pops exhales like he needed to hear it out loud. “Good.”
Silence stretches.
Then Pops says, barely audible, “I’m scared.”
My chest cracks.
I turn toward him, throat tight. “Pops…”
He shakes his head slightly. “Not of dying.” He swallows. “Of leaving them. And leaving you too.”
My eyes burn.
Pops’s hand trembles on his thigh. “I need to know they’ll be okay.”
“They won’t be okay,” I whisper, honestly.
Pops looks at me, eyes shining. “They won’t be okay at first,” he corrects gently. “But they’ll be okay eventually. Because they have people who love them.”
He holds my gaze.
“And Logan? You’re one of those people.”
My throat burns like swallowing fire.
I nod once because words won’t come.
Pops exhales slowly, like he did what he needed to do.
Then he says, softer, “Take me home.”
I wipe my face with my sleeve like an idiot and nod. “Yeah.”
I start the car.
As I pull out of the lot, the building disappears behind us.
But the weight doesn’t.
Because now it’s real in a different way.
Now I’ve watched Pops handle the thing no one wants to handle.
Now I’ve heard him say he’s scared.
Now I’ve been asked to stay.
