Chapter 61
Chapter Sixty-One
WEST
After I punched Harrison and threatened him with worse if I ever saw him again, I called security to have him escorted out. Then I called Hugo and told him to get me to my grandparents’ house as fast as possible.
I didn’t want to be in Harmony Haven, but I didn’t want to be in Atlanta either.
So I dumped my workload on my team, told Hattie I was taking the rest of the week off, and called Mr. McConnell to spare him the trip back.
He didn’t ask questions, probably because he heard the edge in my voice.
But he just told me he’d be around if I ever changed my mind.
I tried messaging Blue, telling her we needed to talk. When she didn’t respond, I decided to give her space.
Fiddlers was still closed and was staying that way until the new door could be installed at the end of the week, so I forced myself not to worry about that either. And luckily, Harrison wasn’t my only lawyer. I shifted everything over to the other side of my legal team seamlessly.
Blue said she didn’t want anything from me, not even Fiddlers, but I wasn’t going back on my promises. If she decided she didn’t want it, she could sell it. Because I didn’t want any of it either. Not without her. Even the thought of walking into the lake house without her there was unthinkable.
So I stayed where I was. On my grandparents’ couch in sweatpants, barefoot, unshaven, flipping channels or trying to read, usually just sleeping.
Loxley stopped by and tried teaching me to crochet.
Jesse brought Max, and the kid and I split some frozen waffles before napping on the couch together.
She also laid a pair of Easton’s jeans over the arm of the couch “just in case” I decided to get dressed.
Gramps kept passing through, huffing at me.
I knew he didn’t understand why I wasn’t chasing Blue down and begging her to hear the truth.
But he’d never understand that I was the one who’d lit the fuse when I walked away from her Sunday night.
I knew that night that I was in love with her.
I knew I wanted mornings with tea on the porch and nights slow dancing in the kitchen.
I knew I wanted to kill our deal before it ran its course, because I didn’t want her living one more day thinking I was using her.
But then she told me the girl in that picture was her sister, and everything detonated.
And I hadn’t forgiven myself for it yet. So how could I ask her for mercy?
“Hey, West.” Grams appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on a towel. “I just got a call from Tammy at the fabric shop. She said your order’s ready. She’s been trying to reach you and Blue since yesterday.”
Pillows. Blue’s pillows for the lake house.
I made a mental note to send Marcus, which I knew would irritate him since he was in Atlanta. But I couldn’t face Tammy myself, and I wasn’t about to stiff her for the work either.
Grams sighed, reading my mind and knowing I wasn’t moving. “I’ll go. I need to run into town anyway.”
I smiled and nodded, grateful. She’d probably drop them at the lake house too.
The memory of Blue ordering those pillows flooded me. How proud she’d been, how she’d clung to my arm like she was showing me off. It felt good being her trophy.
She’d made going to my parent’s house easier that day, bearable too. Just by being there, she picked up the pieces of my heart.
An idea hit me before I could stop it and I stood up. “Hey, Gramps!” I called, hearing him grunt from the kitchen. I walked in and found him digging in the fridge. “Can I borrow your car?”
He pointed toward the empty coat rack by the back door. “Your grandma just left in it. But my old truck’s still out back. Keys are in the ignition if you want to try your luck.”
He hadn’t driven that truck in years, but if it got me where I needed to go, that was all I cared about.
I tugged on the pair of jeans Jesse had left in the living room and headed out. Gramps just smirked from his chair with his snack, letting me go without a word.
The truck coughed and sputtered, but I coaxed it to life. Mom and Dad’s house wasn’t far, and by the time I rolled down the gravel drive, the engine gave up. I laughed, smacking the steering wheel like it was an old friend before climbing out.
I walked around the property, kicking at the rocks and looking at the trees.
But when the wind picked up, I stood still and closed my eyes, letting it wash over me, and whispered, “I’m sorry it took me so long.
I’m sorry I spent twenty years pretending I was fine.
I’m sorry I became the kind of man my lawyer thought I was. ”
I walked back around to the front of the house and looked up.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for that night. But I think you have probably already forgiven me. So instead of saying I’m sorry, I’ll promise to do better. From here on out, I’ll be better.”
I stayed in front of the house, staring up at it, the weight finally easing off my chest. I didn’t hear the truck pull up behind me or the gravel crunching beneath footsteps, but I felt hands land on my shoulders.
“You two found me,” I said, smiling as I turned to see Easton and Miles on either side of me.
“Gramps called,” Easton said. “Said the truck probably wouldn’t restart.”
“So we came to pick you up,” Miles added.
We all stood there, silent, looking at the house we grew up in. For the first time, it didn’t feel like a graveyard. It felt like healing.
“So what now?” Miles asked.
“Now,” I said, steady for the first time in days, “I’ve gotta get my girl back.”
“Damn right you do,” Easton said, nudging me. “Tell us how we can help.”
“I don’t need help.” I climbed into the back of Easton’s truck, the decision already made. “I just need to be human.”