His heart swelled in his chest as she ran across the street with her arms already wide.

“Oh! You’re Home!” She called at him as she jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He fell back against the car, his cousin in his arms. “I’m back,” he laughed as she gave him a squeeze.

“No one told me.”

“No one knows. Well now you do.”

She looked him over from head to toe and then her eyes settled on his. “You’re home for good. I can see it. You’re back.”

Tyler nodded. “I’m back.”

“Your mother is going to be so happy.”

She took his hand and started for the door, but he gave hers a tug and stopped.

“I think I should wait—until tomorrow.”

Clara turned and narrowed her eyes on him. “Wait? Why would you do that?” She studied him a moment longer. “You came here to see Darcy.”

“You’ve always been good at reading people.”

“It’s a gift.”

Tyler tucked his fingers into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. “I owe a lot of people apologies. But I need to start with Darcy. She came into our lives and I ran away.”

“No one blames you for that. How could we?”

“I blame me. She didn’t deserve that.” He expelled the guilt building in his chest. “My mother didn’t deserve that.”

Clara moved back to him and rested her hands on his arms. “Both of them are inside. If you’re back you have a lifetime to apologize to them. Come in now and be with us. Part of us. We all love you and miss you.”

Did he have it in him to walk through that front door? His mind wandered back to Courtney and how she dropped her scarf. The world invisible to her, sight wise, but she trusted the feelings that surrounded her. Tyler knew the feelings he was having. Everyone he held dear was across the street inside that house.

If Courtney trusted the whole world, couldn’t he trust his gut and walk inside?

Clara grabbed hold of his hand and gave him a tug. “I think I just need to make the decision for you. Let’s go.”

He took her hand willingly and held it as they crossed the street.

“Your new single is awesome,” he said and she smiled at him.

“My husband is a writing genius.”

“He’s that. Where is he?”

She slid a look his way. “Don’t tell anyone, but he has a solo project. He’s working on it very hard.”

Tyler stopped. “Solo? Why would he do that? You’re a team.”

“We are. And my first love was Arianna’s theater. I’m going back there to do Annie again.”

“You’re too old for that.”

She laughed. “Ms. Hannigan now.”

“Okay. You’re old enough for that. Maybe too old.”

She slapped him on the shoulder. “That’s funny.” She sighed and dropped her shoulders. “I want a baby too. And you can’t have that perfect family life I had if you’re on the road.”

“You’re having a baby?” His voice lowered as he looked at her.

“No. I’m just planning it. But I think if I’m near home working it’ll happen. Being on the road is stressful.”

“Then it’ll happen when the time is right.”

“Just like you coming home.”

As she opened the front door, he heard all the voices of his loved ones. She was right. This was the right time.

They stepped through the front door of the home he’d come to when he was little. The smells were the same. The noise was the same. And he knew if he walked in further, his grandfather would be in the same place and his grandmother would be in the kitchen. They might not live there anymore, and it might be Ed and Darcy’s house, but he knew that much wouldn’t have changed.

Clara turned to him as he stood by the front door. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I just needed a moment.”

And only one moment was all he’d gotten.

“Who are you talking…” His cousin Christian passed by the front hallway. “Well I’ll be damned.”

He moved to him nearly as quickly as Clara had and pulled him in for a hug.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?” Christian asked as he pulled back.

Tyler noticed the wedding band on Christian’s finger and guilt punched him in the stomach. He’d gone to Ed and Darcy’s wedding because he felt he had a vested interest in it, but he’d neglected to come to Christian’s.

“It was a last minute decision,” he said on a partial lie.

“C’mon. Get in here.” Christian slapped him on the shoulder and walked back toward the living room. “Look what I found in the hallway.”

Tyler winced. This was it.

Before he even made it to the living room, the hallway had been flooded with relatives. Uncle Carlos and Aunt Madeline hugged him as did his cousin Avery and her mother, Aunt Simone. Uncle Curtis somehow managed to pull him through and into the room where his grandfather sat in the chair he always had in that same place.

He was nearly ninety-five, but there was still a vibrant man looking up at him. “Well, look who came home.” He patted Tyler’s hand.

“It’s nice to be home, Grandpa.”

But the sound of a woman sniffling caught his attention and he looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway, his father behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

She said nothing, only opened her arms to him and he went to her.

She enveloped him in a hug and held him. His father wrapped his arms around both of them.

“I’m sorry I was gone for so long,” he said into his mother’s ear, but for both of them to hear.

“You’re home? Are you really home?”

He could feel her sob against him and the pain of what he’d done was sharp. “I’m home.”

The sobs from his mother came harder, but he’d been prepared for that. She’d done the same when he made the very quick trip for Ed and Darcy’s wedding.

She pulled back. Her dark eyes were red from the tears which had come so quick and strong.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” she said with a soft, wavering voice.

“I didn’t really know.” He took her hands in his and looked down at her. “I hurt you and I can never say I’m sorry enough. You gave me a wonderful life and I held a decision you made against you. I never should have done that.”