Chapter 5 #2
I expect shouts, a mix of swears and hollers, all of my brothers’ voices melding together as they fight to be heard over each other, clamoring to express themselves in shock and awe.
Instead, there’s nothing. Crickets. Punctuated by the hum of the vent and ping of Anton dropping his fork on the table.
That’s unexpected.
“How legally binding is this…pact?” Gus asks cautiously.
Okay, there’s the overserious, grumpy fucker we love.
“We can consult Margeaux on the legal implications of Heinz and their 57 varieties, but I’m pretty sure not at all.”
“What?”
“We were kids, Gus,” I snark. “Mandie and Jason Pike had just gotten engaged and that was all this town could talk about. I’d built a campfire in the backyard and we were roasting hot dogs, and she was rambling on and on—in the way that only Maisey can, you know?
Holding an entire fucking conversation with herself while you just sit there?
—worrying about what happens if we grow up and no one wants to marry us.
If we never meet our soulmate. So we made a pact.
If in twenty years, we’re both still single, we’d marry each other. And we sealed it in ketchup.”
“Ketchup?” Anton questions, lifting an eyebrow.
“Cutting ourselves and sharing blood was gross to teenage Maisey. She was a nurse even then.”
He nods, accepting the answer.
“So, she does want to marry you.” Milo smirks, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands behind his head.
“No, she doesn’t,” I snap. The words taste sour in my mouth, bile rising in my throat. “I’m her backup plan.”
“You don’t—” Jace starts.
“Know that?” I cut him off, standing up abruptly, my chair rolling behind me so quickly it slams into the wall. “I do.”
“Ewan,” Gus warns.
“What? I do.”
I start to pace, the anger rising in me again. At least this time I can let it out.
“Her contract was canceled. That’s why she came back. Only after her dream didn’t work out did she come back!”
“But she did come back,” Anton points out. “If she didn’t want you, she wouldn’t have done that. She wouldn’t be trying to collect.”
I stop and stare at him. When he puts it like that, he makes it sound so simple. Like there’s a chance. But there isn’t. Not after what I said. There’s no way.
Shaking my head, I swallow hard, fighting off the next round of tears. I have never felt this out of control in my life.
“Why do I feel like there is still something you aren’t telling us?” Gus asks.
Because there is…
I turn and glare at him. When did he get so good at this? This has to be Margeaux’s influence, because Gus has never been able to read people like this. That was always Milo’s superpower.
“He’s leaving out the fight they had before she left,” Milo says, his voice calm and even, like he’s narrating a story.
And there it is.
“It wasn’t a fight,” I correct him.
It wasn’t. There was no arguing on either of our parts. Zero yelling. Lots of tears. Plenty of pleading. Begging—so much begging. But no raised voices.
“Then what was it?” Jace asks.
I shrug, not knowing how to answer.
Milo pushes to his feet and crosses his arms, his face going blank. He waits, eyes trained on me, but I don’t budge. I can’t say it.
“That was when he broke both their hearts, because when given the choice of seeing the world with the girl he loved, he chose Hayes and Hickory Hills over her.”
Milo’s words sting, almost as much as the collective gasps from the other three. Still not as much as the memory of Maisey’s tears.
“This town is my life—with or without you in it…” I murmur, stumbling backward. “That’s what I told her.”
My back hits the wall, the thud making the wall shake. Pain radiates down my spine, and I know I’m going to regret it later, but right now, I don’t care. I’m too emotional to move.
“You’re a dumbass, baby brother,” Anton declares across the table.
Thanks?
“But, some good news,” he adds. “You’re getting a second chance. She came back.”
“Like I said, she does want to marry you.” Milo parks himself beside me, patting my knee. “No woman is showing back up after you said that unless she wants you. Condiment packet or not.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Second chances aren’t real. They are things that happen in Jace’s books.”
Jace perks up, for half a second pretending like he’s offended. His guilty pleasure for romance novels is a well-known fact, although Jace will flat out tell you he finds zero guilt in the pleasure he takes in reading them.
“Ummm, what do you call Dustin and Kenzie?” Jace asks.
I scoff. Using the town’s most famous couple—country mega star Dustin Wild and his hometown sweetheart turned wife Kenzie Noble—as an example isn’t fair. Because their story is something that inspires not only romance novels, but country songs.
“Rock stars get second chances, not real people.”
“Beg to differ, sir,” Gus chimes in.
Fuck, fate gave him and Margeaux a second chance too. Well, kind of. They were more missed connection. But still, it took a second go for them as well. Shit.
“Ewan,” Anton says, standing up and leaning over the table. “Answer me this. Do you love her?”
Seriously? Is he seriously fucking asking me that? I’m sitting on the damn floor of our conference room halfway to a breakdown and he’s asking me that?
“Yes.”
“And you want a future with her? You want to cash in on this agreement?”
“I don’t want to be her backup—”
“Forget about that part,” he stops me. “Do you want a future with her?”
His eyes hold mine, and I can tell he’s serious. Something that Anton often isn’t. But I also know that when it comes to almost losing the life you want with the person you want it with, he learned a hard lesson last summer. So if there is someone I should be listening to, it might be him.
“Yes.”
“Then you need to tell her. You need to be honest with her. About all of it. Hold nothing back.”
“He’s right,” Milo says. “Fess up about why you chose to stay after graduation, and how you’ve felt ever since. About what you want now.”
“And be ready to listen to whatever she has to say in return,” Gus adds.
I nod, taking in their advice. I trust these three with my life, and I know how solid their relationships are. The only person better to give advice would be our father.
“And then kiss the fuck out of her,” Jace tosses out. “Actually, lead with that. A hot, wet, sloppy kiss.”
“Well now,” Auggie drawls, walking into the room. He pauses a couple of steps in, eyes dancing around the room, taking in the scene. “That’s some advice. I was about to apologize for being late, but should I be worried about what I missed? Ewan?”
He looks directly at me, concern taking over his features.
I can only imagine what this looks like to walk in on—me scrunched up against the wall on the floor, Milo down here with me, Gus leaning on the table directly across from us, with Anton and Jace on the other side, everyone’s attention on me.
Looking to each one of my older brothers, I take in their silent answers, clearing my throat to respond.
“Just some brother shit.” There, that covers it.
Our father nods, his version of the Hayes smirk appearing. “I do like it when y’all can handle it amongst yourselves. So, shall we?”
Turning to the catering table, he fixes himself a plate as the rest of us correct ourselves. Milo and I help each other off the floor, exchanging one last hug before we sit.
“Pour Decisions confessional is always open,” he jokes, referring to his brewery’s taproom. “Party Mode, or Sob Story, is always cold. Depending on the occasion.”
“Depending on how all this goes down, I might just have to take you up on that.”
“You got this.”
I’m glad someone thinks so.