Some of the visitors were likely at neighboring houses, but knowing Lee Ann and given the list the kids had shown him, the majority would be at hers. He crossed to her side of the road and headed toward the front sidewalk. Stopping at the base of it, he stared at the two-story bungalow sitting there as if waiting for him. As if it had known all along that he’d one day be back. He was about to join a big, happy Thanksgiving dinner with people from all over town, and he’d once thought it the last place he wanted to be. Only, now that he was here, he couldn’t wait to get inside. He had two kids in there waiting for him. And Lee Ann. He started slowly up the sidewalk, thinking about the afternoon before when they’d told the girls. The thought that they might resolutely refuse to have anything to do with him had scared him in a way he hadn’t known before. It had been terrifying standing there waiting for them to decide. Until that moment he’d thought he was merely doing the “right thing.”
