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“Which was wrong of me. I should have done it right away. I told you, I was embarrassed. I was played. I don’t even know what possessed him to even reach out again. Maybe guilt, but that is his problem and not mine.”
“Could be he was hoping to rekindle something,” he said. “But that’d be over my dead body.”
She laughed. “It’d never happen. I don’t want to be with anyone else other than you. You’re the one I need in my life. I know people have ups and downs. They fight too. Henry and I? We never fought. And looking back, that was a sign too.”
“Forget everything I said two days ago. I don’t even know why half of those words came out. It was like an out of body dialogue.”
“They came out because they are locked inside you from your parents. No one talked to you about anything. You only knew what you saw or heard and that was it. You still feel guilt over not being able to get the relationship with your father to the place you wanted before he died because you believed things your mother said when you wished you hadn’t.”
“I do feel that way,” he said. “That was another reason I couldn’t go another day without talking to you. I don’t want that on my shoulders again. I don’t want to be that stupid.”
“Stop,” she said. “You weren’t stupid and didn’t do anything stupid back then. You were a kid who believed what you were told. Just like I believed what I was told. Sometimes we want something so much in life that we don’t open our eyes to other possibilities. The difference is you were a kid and I was an adult.”
“I was an adult too,” he argued. “It’s when I was older that I started to realize things more and just lost my chance. I don’t want to lose any more chances. You’re trying to make me feel better rather than letting me apologize for hurting you.”
“Maybe because I don’t want to lose any chances either and I’m just so happy that when it counted, you took that step. Henry is in my past. One of those things you learn from, and boy, did I ever. I’ve learned that I’m stronger than I ever give myself credit for. And that means waiting for you to come to me too.”
He laughed and kissed her on the forehead. “You did tell me I’d have to beg.”
“I’d never make you do that,” she said, shaking her head. “Ever. Words in anger. We both had them.”
“Just like mine were too. Are we good now? Can you get your brother and make sure he doesn’t bring a gun down with him?”
“I’ll get him and he won’t,” she said. “Violet wouldn’t let him.”
She ran up the stairs and saw them in their room. Trace was on his computer and Violet was watching TV.
“Everything good?” Trace asked.
“It’s great,” she said. “You could have told me that Knox reached out to you asking for advice with me.”
“I could have, but it’s not up to me to say it. I went and got him. That’s the best I could do. He has to figure out his own relationship. Just like I do too with the look my wife is giving me.”
“Why didn’t you tellmethat Knox texted you?” Violet asked.
“Because we needed to stay out of it. No one wants another person to fix their relationship for them. They had to talk it out themselves. I’m assuming you did?”
“We did. He apologized. No reason to hate him for how he made me cry.”
She was smiling when she said it, but Trace had a frown on his face. “We’ll see,” Trace said.
The three of them went downstairs and Knox was standing there looking out the window. He looked so alone to her and it broke her heart.
It reminded her of when he was a kid and just wanted to fit in and struggled to.
“I’m hungry,” Sage said. “Why don’t we all go get some lunch?”
“My treat,” Knox said. “It’s the least I can do for Trace letting me know you were here.”
“I would have talked to you if you reached out to me,” she said, nudging his arm.
“I know,” he said. “But maybe I worried I’d need backup. I’m glad that I didn’t.”
“Just don’t do that shit again,” Trace said. “You weren’t there and didn’t see what Sage went through.”
“Trace, it’s fine. No need to hash it out,” she said.
“As your older brother, I get to say my part. Knox, I understand what you went through as a kid or as an adult. We all have things in our past that shape us, for good or bad. But Sage was devastated. It hurt her and knocked her self-esteem down. It made her doubt everything she did in her life.”
