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With Sondra, he was just putting in time until she dismissed him, and he didn’t have to talk to her anymore.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. We didn’t work out, and it was all my fault. All me.”
“We can fix it. We can make this work. We could have something really good together. Just like any famous movie star romance.” She named a couple of names, they meant nothing to him, but he assumed that they were from the movies, or TV or something, people who had gotten together and famously. Whether in real life, or whether make-believe, he wasn’t sure.
“Sondra. No. You... Are welcome to be a part of our family if that’s what you want.” With insight that he didn’t typically possess, he suddenly realized that was probably what she wanted more than anything. She didn’t have a big family, and she had always loved his. It wasn’t him that she wanted as much as she wanted to be a part of his family. “There’s a place for you here if you want.” He shut his mouth. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that. It might make Alaska uncomfortable to have Sondra around.
But why would it? Alaska had nothing to fear from her. He was telling Sondra now that he couldn’t be with her because he wanted to be with Alaska. There shouldn’t be any trouble at all. No. Alaska would totally understand.
“You don’t mean that. You don’t want me here.” A tear rolled down Sondra’s cheek, one single tear, almost as though she had orchestrated it. Maybe she had. He would have no idea how to tell, or what to do even if it was fake, or if it was real.
He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to comfort her, didn’t know how to get away from her, didn’t know how toun-entangle himself from this. He’d apologized, told her it was all his fault, and...it hadn’t seemed to make a difference.
“Sondra, I think you’d better come with me.” Asher spoke from behind Ezra.
Ezra turned. He hadn’t realized Asher had come up to him.
“Why? I don’t want to go with you. I want you to talk sense into Ezra. Did you see the thing that he says he’s going to marry?”
“Alaska has been a nice lady. I think we ought to be respectful to her, especially since my brother is most likely going to be married to her by the end of the day.” Asher’s tone didn’t hold any emotion at all. It sounded completely flat.
But Ezra felt something, some kind of emotion rolling off him.
Could Asher have a crush on Sondra? Could he have stood back because he thought that Ezra and Sondra were meant to be together?
That seemed like a leap of logic, and Ezra dismissed it immediately.
“They’re not going to be if I have any say in it. Ezra owes me a lot more than a breakup over the phone and just walking away without trying to repair anything in our relationship.”
“You and Ezra don’t really have a relationship. And if you think that’s a relationship, that’s a problem on your part.” Asher didn’t pull any punches, and Ezra thought that Sondra would probably burst into tears. So he was shocked whenever she took three steps toward Asher, with her arms crossed over her chest, and she practically drilled him with her eyes.
“How dare you lecture me on what a relationship is. You have nothing. You’ve never even been out with the girl. You have no idea of how to handle women, or how to have a relationship. You, Asher Clybourn, have a lot to learn.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Asher pressed his lips together, then he looked back up at Sondra. “Maybe you could teach me a thing or two.”
“As soon as I give your brother a piece of my mind, I’ll take you off by your ear, and give you about fifteen things you can work on immediately to make you a better person.”
“Come on. We’ll leave Ezra here. He’s got some things he needs to do, and it sounds to me like you and I have some work we need to do.”
Sondra’s mouth opened and closed, and Ezra hid a smile. It was kind of nice to see her at a loss for words for once. Typically it was him that was ended up scrounging around trying to figure out what he could say when he was around Sondra. But Asher had rendered her speechless. It was an interesting sight.
Finally, she turned to him, lifted her brows and said, “You just go ahead on the path you’re on. You’re going to regret it, mark my words. And then, when you come crawling back to me, I will remind you of this very conversation, and how I tried to talk you out of it, and how you refused to listen.”
“All right. I suppose, if I ever come crawling back to you, you owe me that. And I’ll listen to you.”
She harrumphed, like his humble attitude wasn’t doing anything for her, and then she grabbed a hold of Asher’s arm.
“Let’s go.”
Ezra’s brows went up. Even though Asher had offered, and Sondra had said that she was going to go, he couldn’t believe that it was that easy. That Asher just told her, and she grabbed his arm and wanted to start walking.
Ezra tried to figure out what in the world Asher had done that he hadn’t, but like most things with women, he really had no clue.
He wanted to say, “thanks bro,” but he didn’t. He didn’t want to do anything that might make Sondra turn around and spew more of her wrath on him.
Sondra took two steps, and Asher walked beside her, then his head turned, and he met Ezra’s eyes.
Ezra mouthed, “thank you” but he didn’t smile. And neither did Asher.
