Austin moved to my side and kissed me full on the mouth. “Fuck, I missed you,” he said against my lips.
“I missed you, too. How are you doing with all of this?”
He shrugged and tugged me a bit further from the rest of his family. “It’s fine.”
“You say that, and I don’t believe you.”
“Okay. It fucking sucks. The entire thing feels utterly ridiculous. This guy is some big shot from Silicon Valley. What the fuck does he want to do with Wright Construction? For that matter, what the fuck does he even know about the business? He’s never been in construction before. I know he’s qualified, but we’d have to train him from the start. I already know the job. I’ve always known the job. The whole thing could be avoided so easily if they just went back to the board.”
It was the first time I’d heard Austin talk so frankly about wanting the job. I knew that he had been mad and had been trying to stop drinking to make himself look better for the company. Also, for his health and me, and I was sure a million other reasons in his head. But he really sounded like he cared here.
“You really appreciate this company, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he said automatically. He ran a hand back through his hair and glanced off to see the kids rushing the brick-lined street to grab candy. “I feel like this was an eye-opener.”
“How so?”
“Like I’ve just been getting by. I didn’t really care what happened as long as I could continue my life the way it was. Now…that doesn’t feel like enough.”
It was probably because he was thinking clearly for the first time in years. With a depressant clogging his system, it was no surprise that he hadn’t given two fucks about what happened in his life. And, now that he was pulling way back, he was seeing all the mistakes he’d made.
“What are you going to do about it?” I asked.
He shrugged. “What can I do?”
“Anything you set your mind to.”
“I can’t get the CFO position.”
“Do you really want it?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. “No one’s ever really asked me that.”
“Well?”
“I do want it. But I don’t know if I want it because it was always the position I thought I would get or if it’s because that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life.”
“Then, maybe figure out what you do want to do with the rest of your life and go from there.”
He swept an arm around my waist. “What would I do without you?”
“You’d be lost,” I assured him.
“Probably true.”
“So, what do you think of this David guy besides the fact that you don’t think he should get the position?”
“I didn’t say that. I said that we’d have to train him.” Austin sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. “I kind of like the guy.”
“So begrudging.”
“I really want to hate him.”
“But you don’t?”
“Nah. He seems like a good guy, smart as a whip, and charming. It’s kind of not fair.”
“As if any of you Wrights know about what’s fair.”
“Watch it, babe,” he said with a grin.
I laughed and dragged him back over to his family. We sat on a quilt to watch the parade pass us. Austin grabbed us breakfast biscuits at the halfway point. I chowed down, enjoying the ease with which I now fit into the Wright family unit. It was crazy to me to think that, during Memorial Day weekend, I had been an interloper on their festivities, and now that I was dating Austin, I fit right in. It had been a long time since I felt like I was part of a family. And the Wrights were above and beyond.
I found myself really relaxing for the first time in a long, long time. Austin made me feel safe. As if it wasn’t me versus the world for once. I wanted to keep my guard up, but I couldn’t seem to do it. Despite my past, I wanted to get lost in Austin. After our art classes, it was hard not to see how sincere he was about our relationship. And even better was there hadn’t been any more Maggie sightings. No more room to second-guess our newfound happiness.
Once the parade finally ended, the first of the marathon runners started to come to the finish line, which had been erected only a dozen yards from where we were seated. Sutton had clearly picked this spot on purpose.
“It’ll probably be another hour before Mav comes through,” Sutton explained to the rest of her family. “These people are insane with their times.”
“Watch out, Sutton. You might need a twenty-six-point-two sticker for the back of your car soon,” Morgan teased.