“How’s our girl doing?” Concern softened her tone. Summer had called her parents with the details of her kidnapping, but told them she didn’t want them to race back.
“Better.” He leaned back against the seat and stared through the windshield toward the distant mountains. “Still shaken up some, but better.”
“Oh, thank God.” He heard her exhale. “Ben’s been asking nonstop when he can come home.”
That made him smile wider. “Actually…that’s kind of why I’m calling.”
A beat of silence followed.
“You’ve got that tone,” she said carefully. “The one men get before they do something expensive or emotional.”
He laughed under his breath. “Maybe both.”
“Well then I definitely need details.”
He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I was thinking maybe Summer and Ben need something good after all this.” He paused. “So I want to take them away for a few days.”
“A trip?” Excitement brightened her voice.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, she needs that badly.”
“I figured maybe all of us do.” He took a slow breath, nerves unexpectedly punching him square in the chest. “I’d love it if you and Frank came along. Ben could miss a few more days of school. I thought maybe we could join you in the RV. Find a state park. Fishing, hiking, Ben running wild for a few days.”
Silence crackled through the line again.
Then softly, “Vander…”
He cleared his throat. “I know it’s probably last minute.”
“No.” Her voice thickened with emotion. “We’d absolutely love that.”
Relief unknotted something tight inside him.
“We’ve never really done a family vacation together,” she admitted quietly.
Family. The word settled hard in his chest once again.
“That’s what I was thinking.” His voice came out lower. “Feels like maybe we should.”
“You love her.”
The statement hit him square between the ribs because there wasn’t even a question attached to it.
“Yeah,” he said simply. “I do.”
“And Ben?”
His gaze drifted toward the mountains in the distance. “That kid’s got me wrapped around his little finger.”
Her laugh broke through thick emotion. “Well, he feels the same way about you.”
He swallowed hard before speaking again. “I want them to have good memories.”
“You already gave them something good,” she said softly. “You gave them someone who stays.”
The words lodged painfully in his throat.
