I nearly choked. "What?"
"Come on, Henley." He turned to face me. "I just watched you spend two hours acting like this is your family. The way you look at her. The way you are with Casey." He paused. "The way they are with you."
I shook my head. "It's not like that."
"Bullshit." Beck's voice was quiet but firm. "I've known you for four years. I've never seen you like this. This isn't just Wednesday dinners and community service. This is somethingmore than that, E." He gestured around the house. "This is you already living the life you're too scared to admit you want."
I didn't answer.
"What's stopping you?" Beck asked.
"It's complicated."
"It always is,” he sighed, looking around again. "But from where I'm sitting? You're happier than I've seen you in years. Casey clearly worships you. And Palisade—" He shook his head. "Man, the way she looks at you when she thinks you're not paying attention? She's already yours. You're both pretending you're not all in."
"What if I screw it up?" The words came out before I could stop them. "What if I'm not enough?"
"That's bullshit, and you know it. I just watched you be exactly what they need. Patient. Present. Real."
Footsteps on the stairs cut the conversation short. Palisade appeared, and Beck's expression shifted to something lighter.
"Thanks for having me," Beck said to Palisade with a grin. "Best Wednesday night I've had in months."
"You're welcome back anytime," Palisade said, and I could tell she meant it.
Beck clapped me on the shoulder as he headed for the door. "Think about what I said, Henley."
After he left, Palisade turned to me. "What did he say?"
She looked beautiful standing in her kitchen, at ease in the home she'd built. Something unreadable crossed her face, maybe hope or even fear.
"That I should stop being an idiot," I said muttered.
She smiled, just a little. "Beck's pretty perceptive."
I grunted. "He's a pain in the ass."
"He's your best friend."
"That too."
With a shake of my head, I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the door. "I should head out."
"Easton, wait." Palisade dried her hands on a towel, hesitating. "Casey keeps asking if you want to come skating with us this weekend. At Lake Chambeau."
My heart rate kicked up. "Yeah? What'd you tell her?"
"I said I'd ask you." She met my eyes. "I know the boundaries are getting blurry. I know this is complicated. But she wants you there, and I…"
"You?"
"I think it might be nice," she admitted quietly, looking away. "For all of us."
There were a thousand reasons to say no. To maintain my distance, to protect myself from getting more attached, to avoid the inevitable pain when my community service ended, and I had to step back from their lives.
But looking at Palisade, seeing the hope and fear warring in her expression, I couldn't find it in myself to refuse.
"Saturday?" I asked.
