Page 77 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
Brad and my father never met, but they talked on the phone a few times. We’d planned on coming to Italy after the honeymoon to see him, but like everything else, that plan is kaput.
“I guess falling in love with terrible people runs in the family.”
He’s hurt by the sarcasm in my tone. “I’m not terrible! I’m just—”
“Selfish? Immature? Cowardly? Shallow?”
He crunches another mouthful of whatever he’s eating for a while. Then he swallows and sighs. “Yeah. I suppose I am terrible.”
“So what’re you gonna do about it?”
“I need your help!”
“Unless it’s for castration, count me out. You’re a big boy. Fix your own damn self.”
“How about this—”
“No.”
There must be something in my tone that sounds unequivocal because it shuts him up. Then in a quiet voice, he says, “I’m sorry. I know I messed up. I know I hurt you. I just got caught up in the whole thing. The planning, your excitement, my parents’ excitement. I was so happy that everyone else was happy, but then it felt like I was riding a speeding train and there was no way to get off.”
“You could’ve jumped and saved everyone a lot of trouble,” I say, my tone cutting.
“If I could go back and change it, believe me, I would. I’d do everything differently.”
He sounds so sincere I believe him. More than anything, that makes me sad.
“Please, if there’s anything I can do for you, I will. I . . .” He takes a few deep breaths. When he speaks again, his voice is raw with emotion. “I do care about you. I do love you, in my way. More than anything in the world, I wanted to be what you wanted. I never thought anyone would ever want me for myself.”
Tears again. Quiet, like he’s trying to muffle them.
In spite of my rage, I feel sorry for him. There’s nothing sadder than a grown man crying.
Except maybe a bride deserted at the altar on her wedding day in front of three hundred guests in a gown she sewed herself from fabric her dead father se
nt her.
What a clusterfuck.
“Look. If you really want to do something for me, have all my stuff at the apartment packed up and put it into storage. I’m not gonna be back in time to get that done before the lease is up.”
“Done. What else?”
“Come out to your parents.”
He groans theatrically, as if he’s been stabbed. “I can’t!”
“So what’s your plan, then, genius? Troll some other stupid girl into falling in love with you so you can keep up this charade of being someone you’re not? Because if I find out you do that, I’ll out you myself.”
There’s a moment of shocked silence. Then he says in a tremulous whisper, “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“Kimber!”
He has the audacity to sound offended. “You’re lucky I won’t do it anyway, you putz. I don’t believe in revenge, but I won’t let you do to anyone else what you did to me.”
“But if I don’t marry, my father will cut me off! Where am I gonna get money?”
