Page 80 of Because You Loved Me

The word stopped her.Would she have been unhappy with Ryan?A few weeks ago, her answer would have been unequivocally no. But now, after spending time with Asher and feeling…what it felt like to be with Asher, she had a very different answer.

Maybe he wasn’t her person and they weren’t meant to be—no matter what her heart was telling her. But just knowing that shecouldfeel that way changed everything.

Before she could respond, her father continued. “Noa, it’s not your job to fix everything. You know that, don’t you?”

“I do know that. But?—”

“No buts. We’re sad because Tom and Olivia died. Nothing you can do will change that. And nobody expects you to even try.”

“But you were so happy when Ryan and I?—”

“Honey.”

Noa turned to face her mother, who stared at her with a tear-streaked face.

“We weren’t happy that you were marrying Ryan. We were happy because we thought you were happy. That’s all we want for you. We just want you to be happy because we’re your parents, and that’s our job. We wouldn’t care if you were marrying a jobless bum who couch-surfed from place to place as long as he made you happy.”

“Well, wait a minute.”

Noa and her mother laughed at Charles’s objection.

“The point is, you’re not going to make us happy by making yourself unhappy,” Janice said. “That’s not the way through this. The way through is just to get through it. Nothing is going to bring your brother or Olivia back, and neither of them would want you and Ryan to sacrifice your future because of their accident.”

They were all crying by that point. She stood and pulled them both into a tight hug.

Noa should have known her parents would understand. But more than that, she should have known that they never would have wanted the wedding for the wrong reasons in the first place.

But she couldn’t have known, because they’d all been in survival mode for the last few years since Tom and Olivia’s accident. It was hard and awful, for sure. But they needed to move on. Somehow.

“We need something good,” she said through her tears as she wiped her nose with the back of her arm. “We’re so overdue for some happy. And don’t worry, I’m not suggesting that I marry anyone else.”

Her mother shot her a look that suggested she knew more about Noa’s last week and where she’d been than she’d let on. But even if she could begin to sort out her feelings for Asher, there was no way she was going to rush into the idea of marriage again.

“I agree, Noa.” Her father took a step back and straightened his shoulders. Before Tom’s death, it had been rare for him to show his emotion, and Noa knew he still wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. “Do you have any suggestions?”

She let a smile cross her lips. “I have a few ideas.”

“Excellent.” Janice looped her arm through her daughter’s and once more pulled her close. “You can tell me all about those ideas. Right after you tell me about this mysterious man who has you twisted up in knots.”

“Wha—”

She didn’t even bother finishing her protest when her mom gave her a knowing wink. Besides, maybe some motherly advice at that moment was the very thing Noa needed.

* * *

If someone had told Asher a year ago that he would be talking to his oldest brother about love, of all things, he would have laughed in their face and probably recommended them for some kind of mental help.

But sitting in the little kitchen of the cabin, talking things out with Chase over another cup of coffee, had been oddly therapeutic. And by the time they were done with their drinks, Asher felt a little bit clearer.

At the very least, he no longer felt like he was going to burst out of his skin.

“Thanks, Chase.” Asher gathered up their cups and took them to the sink.

“For what? Talking? That’s what brothers do.”

“It’s not really whatwedo, though, is it?”

Chase pressed his lips together and nodded a little. “But we could.”

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