Chapter 10 Jules #2
My heart desperately wanted me to, but my mind knew it would be a stupid move. I shrugged. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“I guess I’m having a difficult time seeing what the point of that would be.”
There were a bunch of solemn faces looking back at me, and I expected they couldn’t argue with that line of thinking. But there was a small beacon of hope in the voice of a girl I’d known nearly as long as my own sister.
Ava said, “The fact that he hasn’t stopped trying to reach out to you might be a sign.”
Ivy had finally scooted over enough to give Ava room to squeeze onto the lounger with her. “You think this guy is now interested in my sister?”
“I mean, I don’t know him, so I really can’t say. But I don’t think there’s any harm in trying, in at least listening to whatever he has to say,” Ava reasoned.
Rhea didn’t hesitate to chime in. “I say you deserve better.”
“I’m with Rhea on this,” Ivy added. “I love you, Ava, but my sister deserves to be happy. It wasn’t that long ago when I was in her shoes, wanting more, and going about finding it in all the wrong ways.
” My sister, tears welling in her eyes, pinned her stare on me.
“I still can’t believe all this happened, and you didn’t say anything about it. ”
The last thing I wanted was to make her upset, to make any of them upset. “I was just having some fun and living a little. I’ve been focused for a while on my career and becoming successful. Beau felt just a touch wild and dangerous. Not in a bad way, though. I forgot to mention one other thing.”
“Which is?” Skye pressed.
I licked my lips. “He’s thirty-four.”
“Oh my God,” Ivy mumbled, more to herself than anyone else.
“Hey, Tate’s older than me, and that’s not a problem.” Ava was doing anything she could to see the bright side.
“Yeah, by, like, two years. That’s hardly an age gap.”
A collective silence fell over the group, enough that we got a few odd looks from the pool again. The guys weren’t going to intrude, but I didn’t doubt they had at least a dozen questions swirling between them.
Skye broke the silence. “The hopeless romantic in me wants to believe the best about this situation, so I want to lean on the same side as Ava in suggesting that you respond and see what he has to say for himself. But before I can do that, there’s one thing bugging me.
I hate to ask this, but do you think he took advantage of the situation, of you being so much younger? ”
For all that I hated about how things went down in the end with Beau, I could honestly admit that was never a concern. “No. No, if anything, he had reservations about there being nine years between us.”
“I say you call him.”
“What about you, Layla? You’ve been very quiet this whole time,” Rhea noted.
A small smile formed on Layla’s face before she turned her sympathetic eyes my way.
“My heart wants you to be happy, however that comes. I don’t think anyone here can deny that love is messy.
Relationships are so hard. And from what I’ve learned from the rest of the ladies here, nobody’s flawless.
We’ve all made mistakes, particularly when it comes to love.
But if we’re keeping score, I made the worst one of all. ”
Ivy said, “Jules didn’t do anything wrong here, though.”
Warmth flooded my body at the way my sister was so quick to defend me, to go to battle for me. I didn’t know what I’d do without her in my life.
“I agree.” Layla reached her hand out and took hold of mine, offering a reassuring squeeze.
“But I am thankful every day that Liam had the capacity to forgive me the way he did, that he was willing to look past the horrible decision I made when I got scared, so we could wind up here. For someone to tell you that they don’t believe in love, there’s got to be some deep-seated hurt there.
Maybe he needs some grace and understanding just like I did.
Yes, it’s possible he’s a complete jerk.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m so angry he wasn’t upfront with you in the beginning.
If he really is only looking for one thing, you’re absolutely right to walk away.
But coming from someone who didn’t try for years, I can’t tell you how much it says, how important I think it is, that he’s been trying since the day you told him to leave, even if he hasn’t yet said what you want him to say. ”
A tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. Had I been too harsh?
Before I could respond, Wyatt’s voice cut in. “What’s going on here?”
Six sad and stunned faces snapped up in his direction and found five concerned ones staring back.
“It’s nothing, Wyatt.”
“I’d say it’s something,” Marco interjected. “My wife’s in tears.”
“So is Jules,” Cooper pointed out.
“Cooper, don’t push this,” Skye urged him. “In fact, maybe it’s time for Lily to eat. Would you mind getting her for me?”
I didn’t want to cause any tension between my siblings and their spouses, so I opened my mouth to explain, and everything spilled out. “It’s me, guys. I met someone, thought things were going one way, and recently learned I was wrong. That’s it.”
“Who is it?”
Shaking my head, I answered, “You don’t know him.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What did he do to you?”
It was a wonder I didn’t get whiplash from how my head was bouncing back and forth among my brothers as they made their demands to know more.
Deflecting their questions hadn’t been about not sharing with them. It was mostly about not wanting to relive the story once more. Ivy, like always, had my back. “His name is Beau. He’s a professional skateboarder, she met him at Westwood’s when he walked up to her bakery, and he’s thirty-four.”
“I’m sorry. Did you say he’s thirty-four?” Tate clipped.
“I did.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Wyatt muttered, receiving a round of nods from the men beside him.
“Wait. No,” I begged. “It’s not like that. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You’re clearly upset, and I’m not going to stand for someone thinking they can treat my sister like that.”
Love.
This was what love was.
How could Beau not know what that was like? Worse, how did he feel inside to think it didn’t exist?
“It was a miscommunication,” I explained. “It’s okay. I’m going to be fine.”
I wasn’t quite sure I believed all that just yet, but I didn’t want them thinking the worst and doing anything crazy as a result.
“Jules?” Liam called.
I turned my attention to him. “Yeah?”
“Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“I will be,” I whispered.
He smiled. “Good. Now, it’s your birthday, so I can’t see anyone here upset. What do we have to do to turn this around?”
Of all my brothers, I was closest with Liam. And I was so grateful he found a way to ease the tension.
I grinned. “You could hand the babies over and go do some manly fighting thing in the pool.”
Liam looked at Rosie, who was still tucked safely in his arms. Then he glanced at Marco, who was holding Jack. “You heard the lady. We’ve got to hand over the babies.”
My brother brought Rosie over to me, and she must have known I needed her cuddles, because she didn’t put up a fight. Marco passed Jack to Ivy, and Cooper brought Lily over to Skye, so she could nurse under the shade of the umbrella.
Then they returned to the pool and didn’t hesitate to be just rowdy enough to keep us entertained.
It wasn’t until I was back home much later that night that I decided to take Layla’s advice and give Beau some grace. I responded to his text, but I didn’t give him much.
JULES
Thank you for the birthday wishes. I had a good day.
Having not slept well for a few nights, I was asleep before I got a response.