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“Are you nervous?” he asks, brushing my hair out of my face as he studies me and I nod. He smiles. “Don’t be, baby. My parents love you.”

“I broke their son’s heart and ran away for ten years… Fuck. They think I cheated on you.”

“Come on,” he replies, his grin growing as he opens his door. “Let’s go tell them the good news.”

“Did you not hear me?” I hiss, the realization of just how bad this is going to be crashing down on me. Why the hell didn’t I think this all the way through? He jumps out of the truck, holding his hand out to me, and I release a nervous breath as I scoot to the end of the seat and step down, mentally hyping myself up. Okay, so it’s going to be awful and uncomfortable and they may never forgive me but for Wyatt, I would walk through fire.

When we turn toward the house, Gretchen and August are walking toward us and Gretchen has tears in her eyes, her gaze locked on me. Before I can say anything or even start to explain, she pulls me into her arms and hugs me so tight that I can barely breathe.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper to her and she shakes her head, pulling back to look at me.

“Sweet girl, you have nothing to be sorry for and just between us girls, I always knew you’d be back. The two of you were made for each other.”

A sob bubbles out of me as I hug her back, an intense relief that can only come with being home washing over me. “I missed y’all so much.”

“We missed you, too, honey,” she says as she releases me. Wyatt grins as he pulls me back into his arms with a shrug.

“Oh, yeah… I guess I already told them everything. Oops.”

“You son of a bitch,” I growl, smacking his stomach with the back of my hand as relief rushes through me and a smile stretches across my face. August and Gretchen are the closest thing I have to parents now and I don’t know what I would have done if they had hated me for what I did to Wyatt. August wraps his arms around my shoulders, sandwiching me between him and Wyatt as we all start walking back to the house and another little piece of home and family slides into place for me. It’s not the same as having my own parents back but my heart still mends a little bit all the same.