I blinked.
“That wasn’t my first question, but okay.”
“They’re not against this.” he continues
“This,” I repeated.
“You. Lily. The custody situation.”
I studied his face carefully.
“You expected them to be.”
“Wouldn’t have been shocking.”
“And now?”
He shrugged slightly.
“Now they’re watching.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It’s not.”
“It definitely sounds like it is.”
“It means they trust me to handle it.”
“And if you don’t?”
His eyes held mine.
“I will.”
There was no hesitation in that answer.
No arrogance either.
Just certainty.
And somehow that steadied something in me.
Upstairs, Lily’s door slammed open and her footsteps pounded toward the stairs.
“Uncle Cole!”
“Yeah?”
She appeared halfway down the staircase, holding something pink.
“Do you think my room looks lik
