Chapter 104:
Kael gets out of the truck.
He doesn't go inside. He walks to the edge of the driveway and stands there with his hands in his pockets and his face turned up to the sky.
I give him a minute.
Then I walk over.
"Kael."
"I'm okay."
"You're not okay."
"I'm not okay." He looks at me. "But I'm going to be."
I take his hand.
"Come inside," I say. "Grace is waiting."
---
Grace is in the sunroom with Florence.
She's got a book in her hands and she's "reading" it out loud in a language that's mostly vowels and she's got her bear tucked under one arm.
"Dada!"
"Hey, baby girl."
She holds up the book. "Read."
Kael sits down on the floor next to her.
"Okay," he says. "Read."
And he reads her the book.
Not the words on the page. The words he makes up. A story about a bear
