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balled into fists. He heard footsteps come up behind him. Gram put a hand on his shoulder, but Kaden jerked away and turned to face her.
    â€œI had a right to see him! He’s my father!” Kaden exploded. “And I would have if it weren’t for you.” Tears of anger rolled down his cheeks.
    â€œAnd you, too!” he yelled at Emmett. “You both treat me like I’m a baby. Always saying, ‘Go to your cabin, Kaden. Let’s get ice cream, Kaden.’ You’re always talking about everything except what’s on everyone’s mind. You don’t have to shelter me. I’m old enough to hear what’s going on. So, what else are you keeping a secret from me? Did you tell Dad to leave? Did you make him promise to stay away?”
    Kaden had almost worn out his anger but when Gram said nothing, it rekindled.
    â€œAre you going to answer me for once?” he said harshly, spitting out each word. “Why did he leave?”
    Gram still said nothing. Even Emmett looked at her, waiting to hear her answer. But Gram just stared past Kaden and Emmett, looking down the empty road, almost as if she were looking for a different scene, the way a life could have been. After a few seconds, she turned and looked directly at Kaden.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Gram said in the quietest and most sorrowfulvoice Kaden had ever heard her use. “I tried to talk some sense into him, but he’s not ready.”
    â€œWhat do you mean, not ready?” Kaden asked, still angry.
    Gram looked straight at Kaden and said, “Your father is not ready to see you.”

CHAPTER SIX
    THE EXIT PLAN

    It was the first day of school. The sky was just turning pink when the school bus pulled into the circle drive and stopped in front of Gram’s cabin. It had been an uncomfortable weekend. Neither Gram nor Kaden had said a word about his dad or Friday’s argument. Necessary conversations were brief and overly polite. Otherwise they kept their thoughts to themselves.
    The anger had left Kaden but a sense of disappointment and puzzlement replaced it. All weekend, Gram’s words echoed through his head. Your father is not ready to see you . Kaden had worried about seeing his dad yet never once thought his dad might be afraid of seeing him.
    Something else about Gram’s words kept nagging at him, too, and he worried that he might have misinterpreted his grandmother. Gram used that expression “you’re not ready” quite a bit, and it always meant something different. Sometimes it meant he wasn’t old enough. Other times, Gram used the same words when discussing Kaden’s attitude, meaning Kaden needed to clean up his act. Gram also used those words to mean Kaden wasn’t being responsible. Kaden kept bouncing back and forth, trying to interpret what Gram meant this time. Was his dad afraid to see him, or did Gram decide Dad didn’t have the right attitude or wasn’t responsible enough?
    These questions had driven him crazy over the weekend, so now Kaden was actually glad it was finally Monday, his first day of middle school. He needed to think about something besides his dad. Kaden stepped up into the bus. Doris sat behind the wheel.
    â€œDon’t you look spiffy for the first day of school,” Doris said. “Must have given up some of your hard-earned bucks in Chapston City.”
    â€œYeah, Emmett took me,” Kaden said. He thought about the quiet ride to Chapston City to buy school supplies. Kaden knew Emmett wouldn’t explain Gram’s words. So he just looked out the window, keeping his eyes peeled for a whitepickup with a cargo carrier in the back. But the only white pickup he recognized had a magnetic sign stuck on the door with the eagle head emblem and the words U NITED S TATES P OSTAL S ERVICE written in dark blue.
    Now Kaden plopped down in the seat right behind Doris, feeling conspicuously new. New jeans, new sneakers, new T-shirt,