“I know. But I told them that I wanted to have a party to welcome me back home and I couldn’t exactly throw my own homecoming party, so I asked if we could call it a birthday party.”
Both of her brows lifted toward her hair line. “They bought that?”
“I doubt it. But they agreed to it and even seemed excited when they were texting or snapchatting or whatever they do now, to invite their friends. I think they just needed an excuse to have a party, and I gave them one.”
Ali stared at him for several beats before she started looking around the room in exaggerated movements, even bending down to look beneath the table.
“What?” Kade asked after she made a big show of picking up the centerpiece and looking beneath it.
“I’m looking for the microphones or cameras. I must be on Candid Camera or Punk’d, or some new prank show, right? This isn’t real. Ashton, you can come out now.”
“Sorry.” He chuckled. “You’re not going to meet Ashton today.”
She sat back in her chair and took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling loudly before petting Dumbass’s head. “And how did you end up with this handsome, good boy?”
She sat back in her chair and sighed. Dumbass lifted his head at her movement and she scratched his head before looking back at Kade. “You know you have to change his name, right?”
He chuckled. The tension that had filled his body for so long dissipated and he felt a calm wash over him. They talked at that kitchen table until four in the morning. Kade told Ali about his visit to his dad’s and how strange it was to see his old man in such a frail state. They talked about Whisper Lake Rentals, and the twins. They talked about Patrick and their childhood.
For the first time in a long time he felt peace. Calm. Content. Three things he’d never even known he was capable of feeling, but being with Ali, looking at Ali, talking with Ali did something to him. It healed him. Now, he just had to figure out how to do the same for her.