Devon Reynolds (FC: Milo Ventimiglia) 40 years old
Kalani Kamaka (FC: Shannyn Sossamon) 40 years oldÂ
Devon and Kalani were friends from the moment they met in middle school. For most of his childhood, Dev was by his parents side, at church and when he wasnât he was outside training, running around with Brooks, getting ready for high school football tryouts. And Kalani was his constant. She was the personâs whoâs window was always unlocked so he could climb up and get into her room. She was the person who reminded him that football wasnât everything, who indulged his guitar playing, who teased him about breaking girls hearts with his guitar skills. She was the one who always encouraged him to make up with Brooks whenever they had a little fight and often times she felt like the glue that kept them all together.Â
And she was his first love, happening subtlety, the transition from middle to high school causing a change between them that neither had seen coming. The summer before high school was when it started. A day out at the lake turned into him staying over her house, wrapped up in her, waking up the next day in her arms. It began and on and off relationship, one that lasted throughout high school. One season theyâd be madly in love, hands all over each other, absolute high school sweethearts. Then the next theyâd be all over somebody else, avoiding eye contact across the room as the other seethed with jealousy. Kalani found herself out of the popular crowd, never one who was much for cheerleading, preferring instead to spend more time with people like Cassandra Galo and Hector Fuentes. She wanted to party, wanted to separate herself from the golden boy image of Devon Reynolds. But how could she, when the person she loved the most was Devon himself.Â
So it seemed with every change in season, came the result of one of them on the others doorstep, asking to talk, asking to mend whatever it was they had broken this time. And every time they felt back into easily. Every time sheâd be at the next football game, wearing his varsity jacket, beaming with pride the moment he stepped onto the field. And heâd look up and see her, smile wide, feel at peace, knowing that no matter what, no matter the fights, the time, the distance, theyâd always find their way back to each other. Always.Â
Until Devonâs injury, when suddenly he was spiraling, partying more than he ever had. Kalani enjoyed it at first, loving to see Dev let loose, loving their drunk nights hooking up in the bed of his truck, loving how easy it was to be and feel free with him. She didnât want him to think football was the end all and be all of his life and so she embraced his recklessness, even when the drug use started. But they both quickly realized how much it was worsening, how much they were drowning. And two days before Devonâs arrest, Kalani learned she was pregnant.Â
Terrified, but still so deeply in love, she told Devon right away and they spent the night holding each other, promising each other that theyâd get better, theyâd try harder for their future child. But Devon had told he had one more job, one more job and then theyâd have money, they could move away, they could start over. And she foolishly trusted him, her best friend, the love of her life.Â
And then she was four months pregnant, sitting on the other side of a glass screen, staring at that same love, the father of her child, in a blue jumpsuit, no hopes or dreams of their future in sight. She kept visiting him, kept him updated as if he was right there with him but there was no denying how hard it was, no denying that she couldnât do this alone. And so eventually the tension built, especially when she learned they were having twins. And she tried, Kalani tried so hard to stay strong, to read Devonâs letters, to find solace in Quinn and Becca being there for her. But it only got harder, and when she sat in the delivery room, wishing, praying, crying that he could be there, she knew that eventually sheâd have to move on, that she couldnât plan for his release, she had to plan for a life with him.
Devon was devastated, wanting with all of him to be there for her, wanting with all of them to see his children being born, to hold them, to be there for their first steps. But instead, they grew up visiting him upstate, awkwardly holding the phone to their ears, looking curiously to their mother for answers.Â
But neither Devon or Kalani had the answers, they were just trying to make sense of it all, and theyâre still trying.Â
Reagan Reynolds (FC: Hailee Steinfeld) 21 years old
Jaxson Reynolds (FC: Gavin Leatherwood) 21 years oldÂ
Itâs not a lie to say the Reynolds kids were born out of love. They were, a deep kind of love, a deep hope. But their parents lives never turned out the way they dreamed and in a sense it went the same for their children. Reagan and Jaxson have always disagreed on their fatherâs case, both of them going through different phases of resenting their parents. But one constant that always remained, was visiting their father. Despite the tension, despite the resentment, what they couldnât bare the most was their father never seeing them, their father feeling alone. Though it took a long time for them to understand that Devon wasnât the person everyone in town claimed them to be. All of their lives they grew up with folks in Edens Town whispering about their father, asking if he was ever coming home. And it wasnât like Kalani didnât talk about him, it was just clear that it was hard.Â
Out of the two, Reagan is the closest to her father. She writes him the most out of anyone in the family, determined to make him feel like he was there for all of her highs and lows despite not being there physically. She was the one who would be the first in the car with her Aunt Quinn to go visit Devon, the one who remembered to send him a care package every birthday, the one who spoke of him proudly, and didnât hesitate to correct the old snarky ladies on the street when they said âWell you know, that father of hersâŚâ But she often times gets frustrated with it all, frustrated with her motherâs exhaustion, frustrated with her fatherâs innocence and how he could never be home early enough. And yet, despite how much she wanted it, having her father home now is so surreal itâs almost overwhelming. And itâs harder, to see him struggling, to watch him try to piece his life together in a strange world. Sheâs been attentive, always showing up at the house to see if heâs okay, always popping up at corner books, wanting to get to know the man she loved as her father, now that she had him there in front of her. She has this eagerness to make up for lost time, still trying to convince her mother that they should let Devon move into their house in Amber Valley. On a few blocks down from where Quinn and Michael live. But she knows itâs not that simple, she just wants everything to be okay. She wants her parents to be in love again, she wants her brother to be less angry, she wants to keep the peace, she wants to live a happy life. If only it were that easy.Â
Jaxson, on the other hand, takes more after his Aunt Quinn than anyone else. His anger is evident, even if heâs quieter than Reagan, less eager. He had started out invested, consistently badgering his mom to get Dev a better lawyer. He read up on the cases, did research at the library with his Aunt Becca, cut out article after article from the local paper whenever it mentioned their dad. He tried his best to hold onto the best parts of him, even going out for the school football team in hopes that he could carry on the legacy. But the older he got, the more detached he felt from his father, the more angry he was that he was there and not here. As he got older, his visits to the prison became less frequent and though he felt badly about them, he stood by his choice and became more invested in his own life, in pushing his mother to be happy. Reagan didnât agree with him that their mother should start dating but he didnât want to wait around forever for his father to come home. Until he finally did and Jax was left feeling guilty about all the time he hadnât seen him. Heâs been hesitant, which his father has taken as reluctance. But itâs fear mostly, fear to get too attached only for his father to disappear. Fear for what it meant to no longer be the kid whoâs dad was in prison. But now to be the kid whoâs dad was out of prison. But now he has a knew goal, to let his father know him and to know his father in return, to make sure he never ends up back in that place, to make sure that they next 21 years of his life were spent with his father in it and not spent thinking about all the time lost. Which is easier said than done, because that anger still lives inside him, waiting to pop at every moment, waiting to disturb the peace so many of them have been desperately yearning for.
