Chapter 79
“What do you mean you might leave!?” Lanie exclaimed. “Did you put him up to this!?” she shouted at Arlo, who quickly shook his head.
“Don’t blame him, little one. This is a decision I have yet to make, but it is possible,” Ryker came to Arlo’s defense..
“Why would you want to leave?” Lexie asked, her voice laced with a sudden, painful vulnerability.
“Because I’m needed elsewhere,” Ryker replied, the words catching in his throat more than he’d admit.
“But you’re needed here, too,” Lexie countered, her brow furrowed in confusion and hurt..
“Am I though?” Ryker asked, his eyes suddenly shimmering with a wellspring of genuine love for the girls that felt like a bittersweet ache in his chest. A lifetime of memories flashed before him—the fear and fragility he first saw in them
