"That went much better than I thought it would," Alex admitted when they were back in the car. "Thanks for helping me out so much back there."
Claire beamed at him. "See! You were worried for nothing."
"Those guys were cool," Ethan said from the backseat. "I wouldn't mind hanging out with them again. They all wanted to add me on Instagram and Snapchat too. Labor Day should be fun."
When they got home Alex noticed he had a plethora of Facebook friend requests from his relatives as well. His heart warmed slightly at the thought that they wanted to be involved with him even though navigating all of those lies had been stressful.
His family was made up of good people. The problem with that was that his resentment toward Talana Mills only grew because she had kept him from them for so long. Being able to grow up with the people he met today would have been wonderful.