Page 28 of Wedding or Not

I glare at him since he’s the last person I want to see. “I said I have a headache. Whatever it is, we can talk about it later.”

“Dad told me.”

I stiffen. “What? I asked him not to.”

“I know, but he did anyway. He was worried.”

“So everyone knows?”

“No. Just me and him.”

I relax slightly. I really don’t want all my sisters to know I overreacted like that. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s obviously a big deal if you’re up here hiding from the world like this.” He walks around to the other side of the bed and sits down without invitation. After toeing off his shoes, he stretches out beside me.

I should mind. I should be annoyed. But I’m not.

I’m kind of glad he’s here.

“It wasn’t really anything big. I just… blew it out of proportion.”

He ignores that. His voice is soft and mild as he asks, “Can you tell me what happened? Dad only knows what he saw.”

With a sigh, I tell the whole story, making sure to clarify that I wasn’t harmed in any way, but I was outnumbered and trapped, which was why I got scared.

“I think…” My voice breaks, so I give my head a shake as if the gesture can unload the excess emotion. “I think if I could’ve just spoken up louder and with more authority, I could have gotten them to back off.”

“Why didn’t you?”

I give him a quick look to see if he’s judging me, but his expression is gentle. Questioning but gentle. “I… I tried. I’m just not a… not a loud person. There’s always this block in my throat when I’m nervous. I can’t seem to break through it. I’m sorry. I ended up making a crisis out of nothing.”

He sucks in a slightly raspy breath and looks at me.

“If you have something to say, you can just say it.”

“Okay. Two things. No, three things. One, nothing that happened is your fault. You’re not responsible for other people’s bad behavior, so stop apologizing for it.”

I frown up at him. “Fine.”

“Two, I don’t think you’re alone in feeling like that when you’re scared. A lot of people clam up like that. I can—” He cuts himself off and rephrases. “If it’s something you want to work on, there are strategies for learning how to react more directly. So you don’t have to feel so helpless when faced with a threat.”

“It wasn’t really a threat.” I say that because I’m oddly touched by Wes’s careful approach.

“Not this time. But maybe one day it will be a threat. Sometimes shouting is the best self-defense.”

“I know.” I clear my throat. “Maybe… I wouldn’t be opposed to working on it.”

“Okay.” He scoots down so he’s at the same level against the pillows as I am.

“What’s the third thing?”

“I don’t think what happened is nothing. It was wrong. It never should have happened.”

I try to respond, but emotion is blocking my throat. I sniff instead.

“Dad is worried, and so am I. Maybe we should just end this.”

“What?”