The Long Way Back

Verse 1

I fixed the door you always slammed

Learned to measure twice before I cut

You kept the deed and I kept the van

Two winters running one rusty engine

I told the kids the truth in parts

You told them I was somewhere warm

I let that story stand

Pre-Chorus

Then your sister called me out of nowhere

Said you couldn't sign the papers alone

Chorus

So I drove the long way back to you

Past the quarry where we learned to swim

Not to hold you not to hate you

Just to sit across the table again

I drove the long way back to you

Not the shortcut not the way we came

Every mile I got a little more mine

By the time I parked I wasn't the same

Verse 2

You looked smaller in that kitchen chair

Your hands were shaking when you poured the tea

I saw the hole where the fight had been

I filled it with the silence I had earned

We signed the page and split the rest

You said I always kept the better half

I laughed because you're right

Pre-Chorus

And the lawyer watched us like a weather front

Two old storms that finally learned to pass

Chorus

So I drove the long way back to you

Past the quarry where we learned to swim

Not to hold you not to hate you

Just to sit across the table again

I drove the long way back to you

Not the shortcut not the way we came

Every mile I got a little more mine

By the time I parked I wasn't the same

Bridge

I used to keep your voice like a weapon

Replayed the worst of what you said

But the kid in the doorway of my memory

Was just a man who couldn't stay

Was just a man

Guitar Solo

Chorus

And I drove the long way back to you

Past the quarry where we learned to swim

Not to bury not to bless it

Just to hand the weight back where it came

I drove the long way back to you

Took the curve where the pines go thin

Every mile I got a little more mine

By the time I parked I was someone new

Outro

Mm

The long way

Mm-hmm

The long way