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Ford gave Everly a rueful smile. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

“Well, can we figure it out right here and now? The way the apartment’s coming along, it won’t be long until we move in there. And I’d like to make the most of spending time with you before we do.”

Ashton went to stand next to Ford and leaned against him as he looked up at him. “Yeah, Uncle Ford, I’m still going to come and have dinner with you sometimes, but we don’t know how often we’ll invite these two, do we?”

They all laughed at that. “Don’t go getting me in trouble with your mom,” Ford told him.

“You’re not in trouble,” said Everly. “As long as you’re going to have dinner with us.”

As they ate, Everly felt as though her heart was full enough to overflow. She loved seeing Ashton chatting and joking with Tanner and Ford – his dad and his uncle. She still had moments when she wondered if it was wise to go so fast, but when those moments came around, she remembered what her mom and Cash had said. She might be taking a big risk, but the reward was so worth it.

“Do you have the school run covered for next week?” Ford asked.

Before Everly could answer, Ashton piped up. “Dad’s taking me and picking me up tomorrow.”

“All week,” said Tanner.

Everly wasn’t sure that she was thrilled to hear that news – even if Ashton was.

“Awesome! Oh, and Grandpa said he can come for me on Friday, if you like.”

Everly pursed her lips. Her dad had come over to hang out with Ashton a couple of times now, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about trusting him with the school run.

“Maybe, we’ll see how it goes,” said Tanner.

She knew that he was more concerned with figuring out the bullying situation than whether or not her dad was reliable.

The sound of Ashton slamming his fork down caught her by surprise.

“Ash? What’s the matter?”

He scowled at her. “Did you tell Dad not to let Grandpa come for me?”

“No. Why?”

“Because you don’t trust him.”

She sighed and put her own fork down. “It’s not so much that I don’t trust him, it’s just that we need to know that whoever comes to pick you up is going to be reliable.”

“Grandpaisreliable.”

“I hope that he is these days, but it’ll take a while before …”

“You don’t know! You think that he let you down when you came to visit him before we moved here.”

Everly sat back in her chair; she didn’t even know how he knew about that.

“You think that he just didn’t show up when he was supposed to meet you. He wanted to be there, but the bad men got him. And it was all Uncle Cash’s fault.”

“What? How do you know that?”

Tanner leaned forward. “It wasn’t Uncle Cash’s fault.”

“It was! He said so himself.”

Everly gave him a stern look. “Have you been listening to people’s conversations?”

Ashton huffed out a big sigh. “It’s not my fault if they talk while I’m waiting, is it?”