Proud

Laura sighed, but she knew Nate was right. There really was only so much they could or should do for Garret. There came a point where he would have to stand on his own two feet…if he could find the strength. She nuzzled into Nate a little more, just enjoying the quiet moment while Maggie was busy and Brian was sleeping. “Would you…be opposed to me talking to Justin again? I just feel like I need his reassurance that we’re doing the right thing and actually helping Garret.”

“Nope. It’s just me.” Travis took a bite of sandwich as his eyes found somewhere other than Ashlee’s face to land. There were things there that he wasn’t ready to deal with yet, let alone say out loud. Angel knew, but he hadn’t even actually talked about it, other than surface details. “Guess that means I didn’t have to share my parents with anyone else but… I always wanted to be with my dad more, but my mom had full custody so that sorta put a damper on things.”

He shrugged and forced a smile. “But I’m here now, so I guess I finally got my wish.” After his dad had misled him all his life. This whole thing really wasn’t quite what it was cracked up to be. He crunched on another potato chip to keep his mouth busy as he thought of how to change the topic to something more pleasant.

“You wanna go riding again this afternoon? If…you haven’t gotten tired of me yet?”

Dylan was still in the kitchen, just now rinsing his glass after having had some lemonade. He could hear the conversation in the other room, and maybe hadn’t intentionally eavesdropped, but…it was hard not to. It wasn’t difficult for him to tell there was something up with Travis’ family that made him not want to talk about it. And in a way…Dylan could relate. He’d been caught in the middle of fighting parents too, and he knew how miserable that could be. Hearing the invitation to ride again though dispersed all empathetic feelings and he rolled his eyes. Wouldn’t Travis ever give Ashlee a break? Walking back out of the kitchen and out the back door, he let it fall shut with a bang.

Hunter gave Ryan another smile and nodded. Yes…she could ride with him again if she wanted. He had always said he would never race with a passenger, but this was different. Giving a final wave, he drove back into the crowd to park and mingle a while…and make good on a bet he’d won.

Eli leaned back against his car and folded his arms, just smiling at his sister as she approached. “You did awesome. Really.” He cocked his head as she neared, noting the little spark in her eye. Whatever Hunter had done seemed to have been the right thing. He never would have guessed another racer would have done the trick, but maybe, just maybe this was the little push Ryan needed.

“I’m proud of you, ya know. Did you have fun?”