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I whispered, “Oh god”

“It was hard to process that loss at such a young age One day, ere fine And just like that, everything changed We were living in Ohio—that’s where ere born—and a few days after the accident a social worker sent us to a grandmother we’d never met in Florida We were only with her for about sixcancer She’d been a snosis At that point, she decided she couldn’t look after us and gave up custody

“Then they sent us to an aunt e’d also never met, here in the Bay Area That only lasted a couple of le mo for her to look after us, too When she relinquished custody, there were no more relatives to pawn us off on, so ent into the system

“Freddie and I spent the next six years bouncing around to different foster ho was that our social worker always insisted on keeping us together She used to say, ‘Teddy and Freddie are two halves of a whole, and we’re not breaking therateful for that” He exhaled and said, “Anyway, you know the rest of the story from that point”

“No wonder it’s hard for you to open up to people after all of that”

He sat up and pushed his hair out of his eyes “I guess so I wasn’t the in with, but it’s is had been different”

“Thank you for telling me all of this”

“You’re really easy to talk to, and…well, I haven’t had anyone illing to listen tothis stuff out into the light of day When things are left in the dark too long, they start to seeer than they really are”

“I knohat you mean”

He glanced at , I’ve been in therapy several tiroup hoht up a s, “I’m sure my coworkers wouldn’t call it a success, either”

“For all you’ve been through, I think you’re an absolute er destroy you Instead, you used it as fuel to get an education, and then you dedicated your life to helping children”

He stood up and gently caressed my cheek as he said, “Don’t try to make me sound like a hero, Casey I didn’t escape unscathed In fact, I’th, because I’m too afraid to let anyone in When I’et through the day, I live in an isolated world of n, where I still dress and act like I did when I was fifteen years old”

I stood up too and drew hi yourself short I’m proof of that”

He whispered, “I’et taken frole person I ever cared about”

“I can see why it’s scary after all you’ve been through, but look at you, Theo You’re opening yourself up and lettingto take a chance on us”

He tried to laugh as he let go of me and took a step back “I feel emotional every time you tell me you’re proud ofour conversations turn to such serious topics?”

“We’ve never spent ti, in-depth conversation,” I said “We’re finally getting to know each other, and I guess it ”

He nodded, but he seemed a little overwhel as he reached out and took o pick out a Christmas tree? I’m curious to see e’ll find back there”

Since he clearly needed to round, I shtly, and the wagon rattled behind us over the gravel path as we made our way to the back of the nursery

“This is a I’ve never seen a portable forest before,” Ithe potted oaks and palms, maples and aspen, junipers and spruce There was no rhys lived beside trees that were two stories tall