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No, she wouldn’t blame them for the insecurities she felt in her life.
Or the fact she was always looking at them doing that to her first before thinking they were helping her.
Like the necklace that her father got her.
She was looking for the negative rather than the fact he’d done something thoughtful.
“Maybe I’ve gotten better at it than I thought. Or it could be that I’m so used to being the one everyone had to watch over or needing a hand that I didn’t realize I could do things on my own now.”
“My brother is taken with you and he isn’t one for letting himself go. I just hope you can give him a chance, but don’t make it easy on him either.”
“I like you. I’m not making it easy. Can I ask why he struggles to let himself go? It seems he knows more about me and my background than I do him.”
“Good,” Raine said. “I’m glad that he listens to you. Brooks isn’t one for sharing but know he has a heart of gold. We didn’t come from much. Working class poor and in a small town it’s hard for people to look away from that.”
“I know,” she said. “I’ve heard it from my bosses enough.”
“That’s right. Brooks is older than them. River would be closer to their age. I’m younger. But we all know them in this area. You could say we were in the same social class for the most part. Brooks got into a lot of fights growing up when people said things to him about being the mechanic’s son at the marina. He was good enough to go out and party but not to be with for more.”
“I’m not some stuck-up snotty girl,” Ivy said. “We grew up all over the world but in very poverty stricken areas. We were considered wealthy by those my father cared for. He’s a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. But we didn’t have a lot. Maybe I wanted more and that is where I struggled in life.”
“There isn’t anything wrong with wanting more,” Raine said. “I have. My brothers have too. That is why they worked so hard to be in a better position than my parents. The same reasons why they take care of my parents even though they have their pride and don’t want the help.”
She’d figured that out with Brooks. “I’m sure. I don’t know what is going on with your brother and me. I’ve left it in his court. He knows what I’m looking for. I know where he stands. There is only so much meeting in the middle.”
“I get it,” Raine said. “Brooks always wants things his way. That could be where he’s struggling.”
“He says he doesn’t want me the way I want him.”
“But he doesn’t want anyone else to have you by the looks of it,” Raine said, laughing. “That is the struggle too and he’ll have to figure it out.”
“He will,” she said. “I’ll give him a chance if he wants it, but not too much of one. I’m not going to be walked all over again in my life by a man.”
“Good for you,” Raine said. “I’ll let you get back to work. I hope something works out with you two and if you could keep what I said between us.”
“Sure,” she said. “I hope things work out too but now your mother probably thinks I’m a slut.”
Why hadn’t she thought this through before?
Of course, she didn’t think Brooks would tell his mother what they’d done either.
“My mother understands Brooks the most. She’s more upset he said what he had than what he’d done.”
“Why?” she asked.
“My mother doesn’t like to judge. Please don’t think that. So she’ll be torn at being upset that Brooks said what he did and put an image in her head and the fact that maybe he’s not treating you so well. That is part of what is really eating at her.”
“He’s not treating me badly,” she said. “I knew what I was doing. I started it. He’ll be the first to say that.”
Raine lifted an eyebrow. “You approached him?”
“I did. I was clear about what I was looking for. He was too. We kind of met in the middle. Then it happened again. He blew me off and it’s been like two weeks and I told myself I wasn’t going to wait around anymore. Friday happened and he just confused me.”
“He confused himself too.”
“I gave him a hard time and said it’s up to him. He did send me a text saying Merry Christmas a few days ago.”
She had no idea why she was admitting as much as she was to Raine.
