“You do?”
“Any fool with eyes has seen the way you look at her,” He leaned back against the front grille of his truck. “She’s in love with you too, you know. I’ve felt awful about being part of the reason you two split up, but as her older brother, I’m not sure I’d do it differently if I could go back in time.” He looked genuinely miserable as he shook his head. “People have hurt my sister too many times for me to take risks with her heart, and you became a big one.”
“That much, we agree on,” I said, knowing as well as anyone that fear could be disguised as stubbornness and love as interference. “You were trying to protect her. If some guy rolled into town promising any of my nieces forever, I’d do exactly the same thing.”
As he blinked, the anger, frustration, and everything else vanished from his features, leaving behind only exhaustion. “It’s just that with Dad’s condition…”
He broke off, not finishing the sentence as he looked away, but in that moment, I finally understood why Avery had boxed me out the way he had. I knew what it was like to lose a parent, but Avery was watching his father disappear in slow motion.
Piece by piece, he was seeing a disease steal the man who’d taught him everything he knew. That was much crueler. I had no idea what it must be like for them, to have their Dad here one minute, then be furious and yelling at them the next as a complete stranger.
I still missed my mom every day, but I couldn’t imagine what it would’ve been like to see her lost and confused, looking right through me or not remembering who I was, and all that while she was still here.
It suddenly made sense to me why Avery had fought so hard and rejected every offer for help. Why he’d pushed me away with everything he had. He was trying to protect what remained of his family before it all slipped through his fingers.
Avery and Raquel’s future was watching the man they loved disappear one memory at a time and I was determined to be planted firmly alongside them to see them through this storm. I was also confident that was what Clyde would want too, someone in his children’s corner.
Someone who loved them both fearlessly and who had access to resources. Someone who wasn’t afraid to step up and take control when they needed help.
What was happening to them was too heavy to carry alone, but they wouldn’t have to. If Clyde were standing here right now in his right mind, I had a feeling he’d tell Avery to stop being stubborn and accept a little help.
At least, that was what I wanted to think—and I wasn’t leaving here until Avery saw that too.
“Let me help.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s not pity or charity. Hell, I hate pity. When my mom died, one of our neighbors brought over a casserole every single day. I overheard her talking to my dad once, saying that she pitied him for being left on his own with seven kids. I never ate another bite of her casserole. I went to sleep hungry for weeks instead and no one even knew. To this day, I haven’t forgotten how I felt when I heard her say that.”
“Then you know how I felt when I heard you offering us that money,” he said, but at least he wasn’t spitting the words at me anymore. “It really wasn’t pity?”
“No. It was because I’ve never cared this much about anything before,” I said honestly. “I can’t stand the thought of seeing you and Raquel lose that shop, man. Especially not now. Especially not with everything you’re already going through with your dad, but I can’t do anything about his disease. If I could, I’d have flown him anywhere in the world and paid anything they wanted for a miracle cure, but that’s just not possible. This is. Saving the shop? That’s possible and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
He stared back at me across the dimly lit patch of parking lot between us. “It’s you, isn’t it? The buyer.”
“Technically, it’s my friend, but yeah. It’s me too. I’m not going to let you lose that place, Avery.”
After just staring at me for another long beat, he finally sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to Raquel.”
I flinched. “Well, actually, it turns out that she’s in Chicago right now.”
“She’s what?” he barked.
“Yeah. I just found out myself, but I’m going to go get her so I can fix this.” I looked over my shoulder, scanning the darkenedlot until my gaze landed on Colin. He was about twenty feet away, leaning against the wall near the ice machine with one foot kicked up against the brick behind him while he scrolled on his phone. “Thayer?”
He looked up immediately, even though I hadn’t even really raised my voice. If he’d been trying to pretend he hadn’t been eavesdropping all this time, he was doing a pretty poor job of it. “What’s up?”
“I have to go.”
“Got it.” He pushed away from the wall and slowly walked over, giving Avery a wary glance before turning his attention to me. “I’ll stay and get everything stitched up on the business front.”
“You’re sure?”
He shrugged. “My job will be the easy part, and staying here keeps me out of Alex’s firing line, so yeah. I’m sure.”
Avery barked out a laugh. “No offense, man, but nothing about what’s going on with that shop is easy.”
Colin smiled at him. “You haven’t met the people I usually work with. They’re real assholes.”
“So am I.” Avery cracked a grin, though, his head shaking as he looked back at me. “There’s really no catch?”
“There’s no catch,” I said confidently. “If you’ve ever heard of Thayer Steelworks, you’ll know they’re aboveboard and we’ll get you an independent lawyer to review the contract just so you can be absolutely sure. We’ve set it up so the shop stays in your name, and Colin and I will partner with you to keep it running under your management.”
