“It was a horrible, awful, terrible thing that happened, Gibs, but it was an accident.” I tightened my arms around his trembling frame. “I know you feel alone in that house since your mam married him, but I promise you that you’re not. You have us. My family is your family, too.” Clenching my eyes shut, I squeezed the shit out of my friend, desperate to soothe his pain. “And you have me, Gibs. You will always have me.” “Brothers f-forever?” he croaked out. “Yeah, Gibs,” I promised. “And then some.”
