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“You’re going to have to stop saying that. I dare because no one is in charge of me but me.” I point at my chest. “Yes, I want him to spoil me,” I say, and she smirks knowingly. I wipe it right back off. “With respect, loyalty, and free and exclusive access to his glorious body. But, I can finance myself,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Well then, why are you two doing this dance where you’re not together? What are you holding out for?” she asks in frustration. I can see how much she loves Hayes; I can see how worried she really is for him. So, I decide to ignore her disrespectful questions and innuendos and put her mind at ease.
I sigh and search for the right words to describe Hayes and me right now.
“I love Hayes. More than I’ve ever loved another man. Ever. But, we’re in a really weird place. He hurt me, and I’m trying to forgive him. Forgiveness doesn’t come easily to me. But I’m trying,” I tell her.
And I am. I know he said what he did before he knew me. But honestly, I’m bothered by the fact that he would say it at all. My parents didn’t do a lot right by me. But, they raised me in a place where I was surrounded by a lot of other people who did do right by me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those people. They are my family. Even though I’m not there, that town, its people, and its future is the wind beneath my wings. I love them. I take my role as their daughter, sister, friend seriously.”
“What happened?” she asks.
“He insulted me,” I say.
“So?” she asks.
“So, when someone insults me, I feel like they’re insulting the people I love, too. And I won’t let anyone do that. Not even the man I want to spend the rest of my life with,” I say to her.
“The rest of your life?” She gasps. “Are you …?” Her throat bobs.
“No, not yet,” I say. “But he loves me. I will forgive him because I can’t live without him,” I confess and my heart flutters as I say it out loud for the first time. I am certain of those things and they are the reason I’m here.
She grabs my hand across the table and her eyes shine with tears.
“Oh, my dear,” she says. I snatch my hand back.
“No,” I shake my head. “I’m not your dear,” I say plainly.
She pales a little.
“I know you were just trying to protect him. But have some faith in his judgment. And be honest with me. I hope this is just the beginning of our relationship. We should begin as we mean to go on. If you play games with me, we can be relatives, but never friends. I would much rather be friends, so please just say what you mean. And mean what you say,” I ask.
I watch her face and wait for her to respond. I hold my breath, very aware that I may have just made an enemy out of the one relative Hayes seems to hold in high regard. Besides his brothers.
She stares at me in complete disbelief for a full minute. I start preparing to explain to Hayes why I made his aunt cry or storm off or throw water in my face. Then, she lets out a hoot of laughter that sends several heads turning in our direction.
“Well, will you look at that,” she says, tears in her eyes and a huge grin on her face.
“Look at what?” I ask.
“He found you,” she says and digs into her food with gusto.
LAID BARE
HAYES
“Tell me about your aunt,” Confidence asks as soon as we’ve parted ways with Gigi. The question stumps me for a second. Not because I don’t want to talk about her, but because I’d already moved on to what I wanted to show her.
“I want to hear more about her,” Confidence says, and my heart warms because she sounds like she really means it.
“She’s everything. The reason I don’t have issues. The reason I can accept and give love. She took me in when no one else wanted me. And she put up with my shit and hasn’t held it against me,” I say and smile as I think about the way Gigi and I knocked heads when we first met.
“You love her,” she says it like it’s a question.
“Of course, I do,” I say and pull her down one alley off Rivers Wilde’s main street.
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
“What are we doing here?” she asks as we step out on the other side and onto a footpath that leads to The Oaks.
