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My hand swept through my hair, and I inhaled. I was sure at this point Char knew about everything, but she was being coy. Not something she typically did. “I guess I’m sick of the game.”
Her eyebrows shot wide. The right one getting lost beneath the side part of her hair before falling into place. “Since when?”
“You never beat around the bush. What gives?”
“People complain when I’m blunt, and they complain when I’m not. I can’t win.”
“Just be you, Char. Please.”
“Fine. After our meeting with Damian, Laurent brought me up to speed on what happened between you and Lainey, though Sherry had already given me an earful. Then Phoebe might have filled me in, but she had gotten the information from Laurent, so there was a bit of telephone going on there, and I knew I didn’t have all the facts.”
“If you have a point, can you make it before Halloween?”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
I leaned on the stool, waiting for my usually direct sister to be direct.
“Damian said he was going to take Lainey out and—”
“He did. He brought her to Don’s. Couldn’t even bring her to the resort.”
“You and I both know Lainey would much rather go to Don’s than the resort.”
I shrugged. “So what then? You’re here to tell me to leave Lainey alone. Is that it? Because I get it, Char. Lainey’s too good for me. I don’t need the lecture from you.”
Chardonnay had a tendency to kick when I was already down. It was just in her nature.
“I wasn’t planning on lecturing you.”
“Then what the hell do you want?”
“I’m not going to lecture you because I don’t think you’re not good enough for her. I think you could be perfect for her if you just got out of your own way.”
My eyebrow quirked, and my eyes locked on my sister. “Excuse me?” She was always quick to point out people’s flaws. For my sister to be on my side—when my siblings often weren’t—didn’t make sense. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not. You of all people, I thought, would be leading the charge to keep me from Lainey, and now you’re telling me you think I am good enough for her? So I ask again, what gives?”
“Do you remember when Paulie Jones broke up with me?”
What the hell was she talking about? “Yeah, you were like twelve.”
“I was fourteen. You were twelve, and you rode your bike into town and bought me—”
“A pint of moose tracks ice cream. By the time I got it home, it was a melted mess.”
“Oh, it was an absolute disaster.” Char’s laugh was rare, but when she let it out, it was joyful.
“Mom yelled at me for dripping chocolate on the carpet. I thought she was going to ground me, but she never did.”
“Because I told her what you did. Not only did you get me ice cream, you sat with me as I cried over some stupid boy.”
“I would have threatened to kick his ass, but he would have killed me.” Brady had handled that, anyway. The guy never talked to her again.
“No, you did exactly what I needed. And that wasn’t the only time, and not just for me either, for all of us, including Lainey. Especially Lainey. You’re an asshole on most days, but when it comes down to it. You have a good heart. You just hide it well.”
Emotions, I wasn’t even sure what they were, slammed into me. I knew my family loved me, but sometimes I wondered if they liked me. I was the town player, heartbreaker, man slut, and whatever other iteration people came up with.
