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Yes, she’d had Nicole’s mother and her friends, but regardless of her glass-half-full attitude, it must have hurt when her father had never made time to be with his own daughter.
“You and I have no idea what it’s like to deal with that kind of rejection,” Damian said thoughtfully. “We had two loving, supportive parents. Essentially, Kylie had nobody as a child and was probably put into more of a caretaker role than a daughterly one.”
I explained to Damian what I knew about her childhood, her aspirations to be a pro tennis player, and how those dreams had ended.
“I know she did most of it on her own,” I finished. “Raised the money and found a sponsor for the Junior Grand Slams by herself. So now that I think about it, I don’t think she had much parental guidance.”
“For all that Kylie has been through in her life, she’s turned out to be an extraordinary woman,” Damian commented. “She never gave up.”
“No, she didn’t,” I agreed.
At any point, Kylie could have just accepted that her life was always going to be hard and wallowed in her own misery.
Instead, she found a way to change it.
My chest was tight as I thought about the day she’d considered ending it all and had gotten back up through her sheer strength of will.
Knowing Kylie and what had happened to her, I wasn’t surprised that she’d thought about it, but there was no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t have given in under any circumstances.
Hell, I’d considered it myself a few times when the guilt had become overwhelming, but I was too stubborn to go that route.
And so was she.
Throughout the last two years, there was always some small piece of me that wanted to believe I could get my life back someday, even if I hadn’t admitted to myself that I wanted that.
“I do think patience will pay off, Dylan,” Damian said. “I don’t think it’s a lack of trust or interest on her part. I think it’s fear. No matter how together she may seem, if her own father is disinterested in her, that has to hurt.”
“Undoubtedly so,” I replied. “Then I think it’s my job to show her what it’s like to be wanted.”
“Because you know what that’s like,” Damian pointed out. “We had parents who loved us unconditionally and gave us nothing but support. Kylie wasn’t nearly as lucky.”
“I guess it’s easy to forget to be grateful when that’s all we’ve ever really known,” I mused.
Kylie needed someone to wrap her up in affection and never let go.
And that someone was going to be me.
“She’s wearing some pretty heavy armor,” Damian said. “No one would ever know that there’s still a little girl inside her who wants to be loved.”
“I can’t fix that little girl,” I said huskily. “But I can love the woman in the hopes that it will eventually help her inner child, too. I should have listened to her, Damian. My reaction was purely selfish. I started off well by letting her know how much she meant to me, but then I stopped her from telling me how she felt. From now on, I’m going to have to learn to listen, even if I don’t like what she has to say. I can listen and still not let go until she seriously tells me to sod off.”
“Even if she did, I’m still not sure you’d walk away,” Damian said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “You’ve always been incredibly stubborn.”
“No doubt you’re right,” I said. “I’m more likely to try to change her mind if I think she’s just trying to push me away.”
“I think you’ll know if you listen to your heart and not your insecurities,” Damian said. “You deserve her, Dylan, and if you don’t believe that, try to remember that no one will ever care about her more than you do. Do you ever want to leave her available for some other idiot who won’t appreciate her?”
“Fuck, no!” I answered, the very thought making me edgy.
“Then let her talk, and try to understand what she’s really saying, not just with her words, but with her actions as well. She might say she doesn’t want anything serious, but is she saying that because it’s the truth or because she thinks you’re going to end up leaving?”
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “I would hope not. After tonight, I would think there would be no doubt in her mind as to what I want.”
“Don’t count on that,” Damian warned. “You’d be surprised how easily a woman can discount something that we think is perfectly obvious. Dylan, you can charm the birds out of the trees when you really try. I find it very hard to believe that you can’t win Kylie over if that’s what you really want.”
“As I said, I’m not the same man anymore, Damian. I’ve become a cynical prick.”
“I don’t believe that,” he answered adamantly. “If you were, you wouldn’t give a damn about Kylie. So use some of that old Dylan Lancaster charm that could always sway anyone in your direction.”
