The words struck Alex harder than any courtroom lawsuit ever could. “I know.”
“No, you don’t,” Leo replied, his young face completely serious. “If she had talked bad about you, it would be easier to hate you.”
Alex swallowed the lump in his throat and knelt until they were eye to eye. “You have every right to be mad at me, Leo.”
“Are you gonna leave again?” Alex refused to make promises he couldn’t guarantee. “I’m going to spend every day trying to show up, whenever your mom and you let me.”
Leo watched him carefully for a long moment. “That’s not a promise.”
“It’s the only thing I can prove.”
From then on, Alex began with two afternoons each month, always with Elena close by. Eventually, that became four.
He discovered that Lucas couldn’t stand raw tomatoes unless they were blended into pasta sauce; Maya had to hear the exact same bedtime story twice before she could fall asleep; Clara filled every coat pocket with smooth rocks she considered “magic”; and Leo challenged anyone who might someday decide to leave him.
