Through the window, they watched Shane and Kevin rounding the building to the front of Riversong, Pete trotting proudly at the end of his leash. Shane was speaking, probably teaching Kevin something—how to read dog body language, maybe, or some other small lesson in paying attention.
Kevin was eating it up, hanging on Shane's every word.
"He's good with Kevin," Sonny said quietly.
"Yeah," April said, her voice coming out rough. "He is."
"Kevin adores him."
"I know."
"You're scared." It wasn't a question.
April tried to swallow past the sudden thickness in her throat as she tried to find words to address the old fear that had gone into hiding deep in her chest when Shane kissed her the night before.
"Of course I'm scared.” She bit her lip as her deepest fear rose to the surface—the real reason she’d pushed Shane away ever since Kevin started to idolize him. “I'm afraid to take the chance that he'll walk away. Again.” She wiped her eyes. “Look at them, Papa. Kevin's already so attached. And Shane?—”
“What about Shane?”
“He isn't Kevin's real father. I can’t afford to believe he’ll always love Kevin like his own.”
The silence that followed filled the shop like cold lead.
When April finally looked at her father, his face had gone tight with something that looked like deep disappointment.
"April," he said, and his voice carried a weight she rarely heard. "How can you say that?"
She blinked, thrown by his tone. "I just meant?—"
"We took your cousins in whenever my sister and her lousy husband got picked up for possession and intent to sell." Sonny's jaw worked. "Brianna ended up staying with us for years. She grew up right next to you and your sister. She's not my daughter, but do you think I love her any less for that? Any less than I love you and Hannah?”
April's stomach dropped. "Papa, that's not what I?—"
"Even her brother, for all his problems, I still love him as I would my own son." Sonny turned to face her fully. "There is no difference in my heart. For you to even think that is the biggest insult you could ever lay on me."
"I didn't mean—" April's voice cracked. "It's different. They’re still blood. They’re still your sister's kids?—"
"No." Sonny's voice was firm. "Thereisno difference, April. Love isn't about biology. It's about showing up. It's about choosing, every single day, to be there." He gestured toward the window. "And it's the biggest insult you could ever lay on Shane."
Tears slid unhindered down April’s cheeks.
"I had my opinions about him a long time ago," Sonny continued, his voice softening slightly. "When he broke your heart. But he was a boy then and didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground." He paused. "I wasn’t sure he’d changed when he walked through that door a few years back. But I’ve been watching him. He's a different man now. A good man, April. If you can't see that, you're cheating yourself out of love."
Through the window, Shane, Kevin, and Pete turned to come back in from their walk. Shane was carrying a flat stone, demonstrating the right wrist motion that would send it skipping across a lake. He handed it to Kevin who practiced the same motion.
"And you're cheating Kevin out of it, too," Sonny said quietly.
The words hit like a punch to her sternum.
April watched Shane ruffle Kevin's hair when he finally got the throw right. Watched her son beam up at him like Shane had just handed him the moon. Watched Pete dance around Kevin's feet, tail wagging.
Love isn't about biology. It's about showing up.
Shane had shown up. He'd shown up at Riversong when he’d returned to town. When he heard the report of shots fired. When Kevin needed a bodyguard. He'd shown up on her porch with her favorite wings and ranch dressing. He'd shown up this morning with donuts and a plan to help her dying espresso machine. And he radiated a quiet steadiness that saidI'm here, I'm staying, you can count on me.
He's been showing up for years, she realized. Sending those anonymous loan payments. To think she’d thought last night that he’d only sent them out of misguided guilt.
No—he’d sent them because he still loved her.
