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“The thing is. Everything she said. It was about her. Not about you and me.” He took his eyes off the road for a minute to look at me. “You know that, don’t you?”
I shook my head. It still hurt too much to not take it all very literally.
“She’s keeping a huge secret.” Dale sighed, taking a left at the light. “And that’s not easy. I know.”
I knew too.
“And she’s in so much pain. All she wants is for Tyler to acknowledge her. I accepted a long time ago that wasn’t going to happen. But that’s what she really wants.” I looked over and saw his eyes gleaming. Tears? He’d never talked about his sister this way. “So I blamed her for choosing him. You know, Chrissy and I were close, once. Before.”
I didn’t know. The way he talked about her, with so much anger and hatred, I never would have guessed.
“But she chose him.” He shrugged. “Just like my mother.”
“Instead of you,” I whispered. He’d been abandoned not only by his mother but his sister too. And I knew Chrissy was right, in a small way. There were small bits of truth in what she said, wrapped up in anger and pain, sugar coated razor blades. Dale was trying to prove himself.
“That’s how it felt at the time,” he agreed and I actually saw a tear slip down his cheek.
“I’m so sorry.” I wanted to reach over and pull him into my arms, but he was driving—besides, there was something about it, the car moving, both of us facing forward, that made it easier to say these things.
“Is that why I was such a challenge?” I asked. My voice cracked and even as I asked, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. “You wanted me to choose you instead of Tyler?”
Dale was quiet. There was just the sound of the tires on pavement. Houses slipped by us.
“Maybe,” he said finally. “Chrissy has a way of seeing into people like that. And she’s usually right. Maybe, subconsciously, that’s why I chose you.”
“And I chose you because you were like Tyler.”
Dale turned the car into an empty parking lot I recognized, pulling into a spot and putting the car in park. He’d taken us to Iselin Academy, the place we’d first met. Where I’d been swept away by the new guy, the one who looked so much like rock star Tyler Vincent. Where Dale had found a girl so obsessed with the man who had ruined his life, it would be the ultimate triumph to sway her allegiance.
“I’m probably more like him than I want to admit.” He leaned back, thumbs hooked over his belt. “The more I try not to be like him, the more it seems I am…”
“No,” I countered. “You’re not a liar. You haven’t hurt people like he has.”
“Yes, I am.” Dale took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “I’m keeping his secret. So is Chrissy. And it’s eating us both alive.”
“So tell,” I urged. “John won’t love you any less.”
“Chrissy’s right.” He looked over at me with a small, sad smile. “I’m selfish. I’m keeping the secret for my own selfish reasons. You know what would happen if it came out that I was Tyler Vincent’s son?”
I nodded. Greg Richer had harped enough about public image for me to understand what it would do to Dale’s career. Even if it wasn’t a scandal, it would mean a lifetime of Dale being compared to his father, which was the last thing in the world he wanted to have happen.
“You were right,” I told him. “You were right about Josh. He tried to kiss me.”
I left out the part about the actual kissing. Dale’s reaction was strong enough to an attempted kiss.
“I knew it!” He pounded his fist on the steering wheel and I sank back in my seat.
“And you were right about Ben,” I choked. “He asked me for money today. Some… I don’t know, computer investment? Made it sound like he was concerned for my future or something, but…”
“Oh Sara.” Dale put his arms around me. “Damnit. I didn’t want to be right about Ben. Or Josh, for that matter. He better keep his damned hands off you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I rested my cheek against his chest. “I’m going on tour with you.”
“Because of Josh? Because of Ben?”
“Because I love you.” I lifted my head to look into his eyes. “And I know you love me. Chrissy may be right about the things that drew us together in the first place… but that isn’t why we’ve stayed together.”
He kissed me and I knew I would never in my lifetime find another man like the one holding me in his arms. I could let him go and spend the rest of my life searching for someone to fill the void he left. We found each other through our wounds, our sad and broken places. And we were healing each other too. Slowly and with great effort, but it was happening. And maybe that was the real magic of love. We started out two broken people and together, we created something entirely new and whole.
