Everett didn't attend every day of the trial. He spent most of that time with Naomi and the twins instead. Rebuilding something the courtroom couldn't fix on its own.
He moved out of the house he'd shared with Paige within a month. He couldn't stand the sight of it anymore. Every room reminded him of a year built on someone else's lies.
He bought a smaller house near Naomi's. Close enough that Caleb and Jonah could see him every day. Not as a courtroom formality. As a father who actually showed up.
The new house was smaller than the one he'd shared with Paige, and plainer too. No grand staircase, no marble counters, nothing built to impress anyone who walked through the door. He picked it mostly because of the backyard. Flat and fenced. Room enough for two boys to eventually run wild in. Naomi noticed that the first time she dropped the twins off there. "You picked this for them," she said. "Not for you." "Everything I do now is for them," Everett said. "That part's not complicated anymore."
