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“Honesty is appreciated. Could you maybe sugar-coat it a little?” He flashed me this lop-sided grin that I itched to return.
“No,” I said flatly.
His face fell, and he shrugged. “If you want them to forgive you, you better do something drastic.”
“Why do I have to do anything at all?” I cried. “I told them I didn’t knowshewould show up in Wyoming. That’s on them if they don’t believe me.”
“It’s on you,” he said evenly. “Hiding a relationship with your estranged mother for years is definitely all on you.”
“What’s so wrong with having a relationship with my mother? My brothers are just jealous.” Even as I said it, I knew it was so much more than that. I knew exactly why choosing her over them was wrong. Lesson learned the hard way.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Play stupid.”
“Take your stupid and go back to dinner.” I took off down the sidewalk again without a real direction.
Patrick didn’t know anything. Or he knew too much was more like it.
“My stupid is going in the opposite direction,” he said under his breath, giving me a pointed look.
“We both made a mistake.” I stared straight ahead, though my face got hot.
“No need to remind me every chance you get.”
“If you weren’t everywhere I go, I wouldn’t.”
“You keep it up and you won’t have to worry about it anymore. Your brothers won’t want anything to do with you.”
They already didn’t. Because I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. Couldn’t stop lashing out.
“What do you want me to do?”
“A starting point would be getting through one meal without insulting the shit out of somebody. C’mon, Marlow. Holt announcing his engagement was a softball. All you had to do was say congratulations. You didn’t even have to smile. You could’ve done that grimace thing you’re so good at. Everyone would have considered it a win.”
I scowled.
“No. That’s not the look I’m talking about.” He cocked his head to the side, and my frown deepened. “Hmm. Getting closer.”
“How the hell can anyone possibly stand more than three minutes with you?”
“I could say the same of you.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Because I like Baker and Holt, I’m going to tell you how to fix it.”
“Can’t wait to hear this,” I said under my breath.
“You really want to help them? Don’t say it. Show them. Go to the garage ready to work. Volunteer for whatever they need done.”
No way would that work.
“That’s your grand plan?”
“It’s a first step. When you get there, you can’t complain. Can’t insult them. Tell them you had a shitty day, so you didn’t have a great reaction to their news tonight. That you’re happy for them.”
“Basically become someone else.”
“Be the person you used to be.”
