Page 39 of Axe Backwards
“It’s a sign of genius.”
That garnered a hint of a smile. “More like I’m losing my mind, but I appreciate the positive spin on it.”
“For what it’s worth,” Aunt Lou said, “you handled the weekend beautifully. You’re a good kid. You showed up for your sister and kept your chin up.”
I couldn’t help but think there was more to this story than I knew. It all weighed so heavily on Vic, and it killed me to know how painful it was.
I was the guy who ran away, the brother who was AWOL for family gatherings and holidays.
For so long I thought it was for the best. Now, witnessing the strength she mustered to show up, despite how difficult it was, I was rethinking all of it. Maybe staying away hadn’t been brave. Maybe, all this time, I’d been a coward.
“I think you were brave.”
In response, she scoffed and curled up in the passenger seat. She was dressed in sweats, with her hair back in its usual ponytail. She looked beautiful.
At the wedding, she was glamorous and sexy. But right now, looking vulnerable in the front seat of my truck, she looked like my best friend.
After a long stretch of silence, she finally spoke again. “My family is coming to Lovewell. For the entire summer.”
The words hung in the air between us for a solid half mile.
“And I’m spiraling.” One fat tear rolled down her cheek, quickly followed by another and another.
I almost drove off the road. The sight gutted me and sent my mind spinning. What could I do to make it better? How could I make her laugh and smile again?
“That was so painful.” Her voice was smaller than I’d ever heard it.
Aunt Lou reached over the seatback and handed her a tissue.
I kept my eyes on the road.Fuck. Crying. Tears. How do I fix this?
“What if—” Vic bit her lip and shifted in her seat. “What if we kept pretending?”
Oh fuck. Of all the possibilities I’d come up with to help her during the drive—ice cream, a Britney Spears singalong, maybe a quick soft shoe routine on the side of the road—being her fake boyfriend beyond today had not entered my consciousness.
“I know it’s a lot to ask.”
Vic’s slumped shoulders and the pain in her eyes killed me. The way those people spoke to her made me want to fell a tree and make sure it landed on their car. A dozen times this weekend, she’d faded away into a distant, beautiful person I didn’t recognize.
It was fun pretending to be in love with her, and it was too goddamn easy. I’d never been in love, and I’d never had a long-term girlfriend. Most of my relationships ended after a few months. Usually, I’d work nonstop during fire season, which wasn’t conducive to maintaining relationships.
But I’d also never met a woman who made me want to give my all to a relationship. Not the way Jack had with Emily. Living with them, having a front-row seat to their love story, made it impossible to deny that they’d found in one another something they could not live without.
Maybe it was the way I was wired. I’d always lived to chase the next adventure, and my whole life, I’d feared boredom.
These days, my brothers were finding their people and building adult lives.
I had Tess now. She was my person. And I’d spend my whole life loving her and caring for her.
What woman would want to come in second place to my daughter?
If the women at the wedding this weekend were any indication, not many.
Every single one of my hero instincts was screaming at me to put on my cape and fix this for her.
“It’s not,” I said, racking my brain for words that would help. “I can understand why you want to.”
“He’s an excellent boyfriend,” Lou added from the back seat.
