He runs his thumb over a tear that slips out. “Your perception of someone is just that: yours. What you believe can only be changed if you let it.”
I close my eyes and nod, turning my cheek into his hand.
“Shower, honey,” he murmurs. “Then we’ll talk.”
He drops his hands and turns, leaving me to shower alone and in peace. I’m so grateful for him in this moment.
So grateful.
~*~*~*~
NATE
She looks like hell. She’s sitting on my couch wearing one of my long, black Cubs shirts. She’s got her knees tucked up to her chest, her arms firmly wrapped around them. Her hair is damp still and she hasn’t yet brushed it, so it matts around her face. Even like this, she’s still breathtakingly beautiful.
“Tell me what happened,” I say, my voice as affectionate as I can make it.
She doesn’t lift her head when I speak, but she begins talking in a low, soft tone. “Max said they found another lead. He said there was a hotel owner that came into the mix and gave them the name of a man who used to stay there often. This man was seen with my mother a few times. Max contacted him and he said . . .” She takes a shaky breath. “He said they were having an affair, that they were going to run away together but she suddenly went missing.”
“Oh, baby,” I murmur, my heart breaking for her.
She begins to cry again, her tiny body shaking. “It can’t be right, Nate. She was so pure, so perfect. She loved us, loved my dad; there wasn’t a time she wasn’t full of smiles and laughter. How could she have been having an affair when she was so happy?”
“People can pretend,” I say carefully. “A smile can cover so much pain.”
She looks up at me with tears sliding down her cheeks. “But her smile was so real, so beautiful - so amazing. I just can’t believe it wasn’t right. I can’t sleep at night thinking she might have been slowly dying behind it.”
“Whatever was happening between your father and your mother wouldn’t take away from the fact that she adored you and Liam. The smiles she gave you, the happiness she shared with you—that was all real, Avery.”
“How would you know?” she croaks.
“Because I give Macy the smiles that are real, the love that’s real. I give her everything I don’t give Lena.”
She stares at me for the longest time, her eyes searching my face. “Can you tell me she was truly happy? That is was possible for it to have been real?”
“Of course it was possible for it to have been real,” I say, standing up and taking a seat beside her. “Avery, just because one element in her life wasn’t happy doesn’t mean the rest was taken down with it. She was unhappy with your dad, and she clearly found something worth fighting for in this other man. I’m the perfect example of that. You give me hope, you let me breathe again; coming to you, seeing your smile, it’s the only way I can keep fighting.”
“Is it strange for me to say I want to meet him?” she says, her voice low and shaky.
I shake my head. “Of course not. He has answers she can’t give you.”
She’s silent a moment, and then she lifts her eyes to mine and searches my face again, like she’s looking for an answer there.
“I’m sorry for what I said the other night, Nate. I didn’t mean it. This . . . us . . . what I feel here—it’s terrifying. This isn’t the girl I ever wanted to be, but I can’t stay away from you. Logic is lost on me. You’re all I see, all I want.”
I reach out and stroke her bottom lip. “It’s forgotten.”
She stares at my mouth and suddenly heat sparks in my chest again. I shouldn’t be doing this—I shouldn’t want to do this but when I’m here with her, I can’t seem to make myself think of anything else. All my guilt is washed away; the only thing I can see is a pair of devastating eyes that hold so much pain, so much love and so much compassion I never want to stare at anything else.
“I’m goin’ to kiss you now,” I murmur, “because I can’t stop thinking about your mouth.”
Her cheeks turn pink and she nods, her eyes not moving from mine. I lean forward, lifting my hand and gently cupping her cheek, running my thumb over the soft skin there. She shudders and shifts closer to me, dropping her hands to my thighs and holding them. I lean down and gently graze her lips, my skin prickling with need. She feels so good. So fucking good.
She deepens the kiss, sliding her hand up my thigh and slipping it underneath my shirt. I groan and slip my tongue between her pink lips, tangling it with hers. A whimper escapes her and travels through me, and her hands find my abs. She runs her fingers up and down, stroking my skin in the most delicate way. She’s fucking perfect, so graceful and elegant. A true lady.