Something new. Someone new. He’d been looking for someone to fill that empty void he’d ripped into his heart with the absence of his father, someone to live for, to devote himself to the way he’d lived so devotedly for Lyle. He knew that, but knowing it made him feel all the more pathetic for it.

His other hand raised to clutch at her arm as well, holding tighter onto her.

“No,” Malachi replied, and though his voice was still quiet, it was firm.

“I will never be disappointed in you.”

Nettie didn’t need to have the answers. She shouldn’t have seen him like this in the first place.

Malachi drew in a deep breath, and said, “you’re right. I just need… change. A new path. I don’t know what, I… don’t even know where to start. But I’ll try.”