Page 64 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“You don’t have to tell me everything in one day, Uncle Gus.” Jace squeezed his hand, and for once, Gus didn’t snatch it back. “Today is a start. There’s still time. We’re good. I promise.”
“No, we’re not...not yet. You shouldn’t give me a free pass just because I’m dying,” Gus scolded.
“When else would a free pass be in order, then? You tell me,” Jace said.
His uncle tutted. “I don’t know, but your lady sure didn’t pull any punches when she was here earlier.”
Jace’s heart drummed.
His lady?
“Adaline was here?” He leaned closer to the bed. “Today?”
“She came by this morning and didn’t mince words.” Shame splashed across Gus’s face. “Not that it wasn’t warranted.”
Jace felt a smile rise to his lips.That’s my girl.He wished he’d been there to see it.
Although, Adaline wasn’t really his. She never had been, and now that he’d ruined things, she never would be.
“I hope you were kind to her,” he said, shooting his uncle a look of reproach.
“You can stop saying that every time we talk about her. I got the message weeks ago. I get it—you’re in love with her. And don’t worry. I never said a word to her. I pretended to be asleep.” Gus’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure she bought it. In any case, she had a lot to say.”
Surprise filled Jace like sunshine. He would’ve paid good money to see Adaline go off on Uncle Gus while he faked being asleep. What had happened in Bluebonnet while he was away? Clearly he’d missed some things.
Gus tried to speak again and choked on a cough.
“Uncle Gus, why don’t you close your eyes for a bit? We can finish this later. I promise I’ll stay right here.” It was Christmas Eve. Where else was he going to go?
“No you won’t. You have someplace more important to be tonight, son.” Gus’s eyes opened, and a tear slid down his weathered face. “Tomorrow is Christmas, and we can talk more then. But tonight I want you to know something really important. Look at me when I say it, because I want you to feel it all the way in the marrow of your bones.”
Jace’s eyes burned. He’d never seen his uncle cry before...never even realized Gus knew how. He nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak without breaking down.
“You’re the son I never had, Jace,” Gus said through a sob. “Don’t for a second think that you’re unknowable or unlovable.Ilove you. I know I’m not the best at showing it, but I do. Always have, always will.”
Jace took a ragged inhale as his vision blurred. Gus had just given him the Christmas gift he never knew he needed. It seemed silly to think that words could mean so much. But they did, and hearing them come from his uncle—who’d always been a man of few words, even when they could’ve made all the difference—soothed a part of Jace that he’d long thought was beyond repair.
“I’m not the only one who loves you, you know,” Gus said as the corner of his mouth inched into a rare smile.
The joy in Jace’s heart dimmed. He shook his head. “You don’t understand. What Adaline and I had wasn’t what you think it was.”
“I know love when I see it, son. I had it once, remember?” Gus sighed. “It’s too precious to throw away. Don’t make the same mistakes I’ve been making the past fifty years. Go and get her.”
Jace wanted to believe him so much it hurt. “It was all just make-believe, Uncle Gus.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Gus shook his head. Christmas music drifted into the room from someplace down the hall, and Jace felt a swell of holiday spirit like he’d never experienced before. “Trust me on this, son.”
Jace turned Gus’s words over in his head. Trust didn’t come easy for a kid whose life had been turned upside down and never felt quite right again. All these years, he thought he’d been looking for something or someone to believe in. For a while, he’d even thought that person might be Gus.
But it turned out that’s not what he’d needed, after all. All this time, Jace was really longing for someone to believe inhim.
Now his uncle was telling him that someone did...someone who Jace had done his best to push away. He’d wanted Adaline to fight for him, and that’s exactly what she’d done. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for her to come here and tear down the wall Gus had been building around his heart for decades. Jace had just told Gus what he and Adaline had was only make-believe. He’d called Adaline his fake girlfriend. But the truth was, it didn’t get more real than that.
Spent from the day’s events, Gus drifted off to sleep. While his breathing grew heavy, the last words he’d spoken seemed to echo off the walls until they filled up the whole room.
Trust me, son.
Yesterday, the notion would’ve been unthinkable. But Christmas was about new beginnings, and against all odds, Jace and his uncle had finally found theirs.
