Chapter 31

Lake POV

The desperate intensity in his voice made my chest ache. I reached for a towel, wrapping it around his small body as I lifted him from the water.

“Okay, baby,” I said soothingly. “No one’s making you miss school. We were just checking to make sure you felt ready.”

Ramon stepped forward to help, taking the towel and gently drying Ollie’s hair while I wrapped another towel around my own wet clothes.

“You really like school that much?” he asked Ollie.

“It’s the best place ever,” Ollie said with complete sincerity. “Mrs. Patterson lets me use the big crayons, and Marcus—my friend Marcus, not driver Marcus—he’s teaching me how to play chess. And the books in the library have pictures that move when you turn the pages!”

The wonder in his voice, the way his entire face lit up when he talked about school, reinforced everything I already knew about this decision. Education had always been a luxury in our old life—something that happened whe