Her voice trembled. “Did you know about my sister?”
“No.” The word was sharp, desperate. I wrapped my hand gently around the back of her neck, holding her still so she could see the truth in my eyes. “The second I saw that picture, that was the second I pieced it together. I panicked. I’m sorry I walked away and left you confused but when you told me she was in North Dakota, I couldn’t breathe. That was where those random calls had been coming from on my phone and I had to get out.”
“It’s fine,” she said, waving it off. “You ended things right before that anyway. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I ended things because I couldn’t stand another second of us pretending.” My thumb stroked her pulse at her throat, quick and unsteady. “That night, I had planned to take you home and then beg you to start over with me. Something real. Something fresh. I wasn’t going to wait until after the McConnell meeting because that didn’t matter to me as much as making you mine did.”
Her breath hitched. Our eyes stayed locked.
“So what was your plan?” she whispered. “West Brooks always has a plan.”
I huffed a laugh, stepping back, my hands spread wide. “This is as far as I’ve gotten. Being here. Trying to balance the man I am with the man I want to be, with the man you need me to be. I couldn’t ask for your forgiveness until I knew I could forgive myself.”
She shook her head, a tiny smile pulling at her lips. “It doesn’t sound like there’s anything to forgive. Leave it to you to try and carry guilt for things you couldn’t control.”
I almost kissed her right then. Almost. But there was one last thing.
“I didn’t get your sister pregnant.” My voice was steady, my hand tightening at her waist. “But I did have my new lawyer set her up under the condition that she leaves you alone. Whatever it takes.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered. “She’ll just want more. She always wants more. You don’t owe her anything.”
“Trust me, she won’t want more. I made sure of it. And I didn’t just do it for you. I did it for me. A peace offering with my past. Brittany’s a piece of work, but she’s lived in my nightmares, cast as the villain in a story she never actually controlled. She didn’t ask to be part of my mess any more than I asked to be part of hers. And if you and I are in the business of anything, Blue, it’s forgiving the things we can’t place blame for. Right?”
Blue’s eyes softened and she leaned in, her forehead brushing mine. “Right.”
“I made you something,” I whispered.
Her eyes widened as I pulled back, ducking into the office. When I returned with the box in my hands, her confused expression made me laugh. And God, it was worth everything.
Chapter Sixty-Four
BLUE
I heardthe music from down the hall, though the lot outside looked empty. For a second, I thought maybe it was Jean making sure everything was ready for Fiddlers to reopen. Sometimes she got dropped off, so it made sense.
But when I walked in, I froze.
West.
He was in jeans, a T-shirt, and had a broom and dustpan in his hands. If it weren’t for the shiny Rolex flashing on his wrist, I would’ve thought he was someone else. The contradiction made me want to laugh and cry all at once. I was immediately disarmed by the sight of him, and the second he reached across the bar and took my hand, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to resist whatever he had to say.
Because in that moment, I knew it was the truth.
Not just because Grams and Dad had cleared up a few things for me. Not just because his words lined up with the pieces I hadn’t been able to make sense of. But because I felt the same pull that had captivated me from the beginning, the same pull I’d tried to ignore right up until he’d changed the script on me at my dad’s house.
I should’ve stayed in that office. I should’ve seen how he handled what his lawyer said. Instead, I’d left and let myself spiral.
But West was right. We’d find peace. Forgiveness. Even for the people who hadn’t meant to cause harm. Maybe especially for them. And more than anything, with each other.
When we came back from the office, his hand was tucked behind his back. He pulled out a small box made entirely of Legos.
I blinked at it, confusion heating my face until I noticed the pink blush rising across his. And that instantly became my new favorite look on West Brooks.
“Remember how I said I always build the things I want?” he asked.
I nodded, my stomach flipping.
He opened the box. Inside was a ring made of Legos.
