“How’s the legal situation with Titan?” Dad asked Alex as Mom served apple pie. I was surprised by his question, not realizing how much they must have talked about her company.
“Our lawyers are certainly earning their retainer,” Alex joked. “All I need to do now is figure out how to buy out my partner so he can retire.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, honey,” Mom smiled. “You seem like you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Pride filled my chest at the fact that my parents recognized how amazing she was.
As dinner wound down and the kids started clearing dishes, I felt the familiar warning signs that I was running out of social energy—exhaustion setting in earlier than I’d anticipated. My body reminding me I still needed extra recovery from the last few days.
“Think I’m going to head back to the lodge,” I whispered to Alex. It was barely eight. “You can stay if you want.”
She studied my face a moment before responding, “I’ll walkback with you.”
We said our goodbyes and walked back to the lodge in the gathering dusk. Alex slipped her hand around my arm.
“You did good tonight,” she said. “I know that wasn’t easy.”
“You made it easier.”
“They’re being so careful with you.”
“Yeah. Probably gonna be like that for a while,” I glanced at her. “You okay with that?”
“I’m okay with whatever it takes for you to feel safe while you heal.”
“I don’t think I deserve you,” I said as we reached our door.
“Hmm. Too bad you’re stuck with me.”
Inside our room, Alex got ready for the evening—pulling her contacts out and her hair up before shunning her bra and day clothes for soft pajamas and a relieved look on her face. It was a transformation I never got tired of watching.
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” I started when she’d settled into the chair by the window, her e-reader in her hand. “About this morning. About what my dad said.”
Alex set down her device, her expression growing serious as I sat on the edge of the bed near her. “The injections.”
“Yeah,” I looked down at my hands. “I’ve been hidin’em from you. I asked my dad to help because my hands haven’t been steady enough to do it on my own yet. I didn’t want to bother you with them.”
“Finn,” her voice stayed steady, direct. “I knew you were hiding something. I never said anything because I figured you’d tell me when you were ready, but it hurt to find out you were going to your dad instead of me after everything else we’ve shared.”
The admission hit harder than an accusation would have, especially delivered in her practical tone that held no emotion either way.
“That must have been exhausting,” she continued, “for both of us. Me pretending not to notice or feel rejected and you workingso hard to keep me from seeing because you thought I’d care.”
“I don’t want you to see me as broken,” my words came out quiet. “Didn’t want you to look at me and see even more damage you hadn’t signed up for. Another defective part.”
“Do they hurt?” she asked gently. “The injections?”
“The needle is longer than I expected,” I admitted. “My leg’s sore for a few days after.”
Alex was quiet for a long moment, and when she spoke, her voice was smaller than usual. “When your dad brought it up, everything suddenly made sense. Why you were more confident, stronger, more willing to show me all of you, engage in…” she trailed off, then started again. “Then I realized you didn’t trust me enough to help you reclaim that part of yourself. Steady.” Glassy eyes met mine, “that hurt the most.”
My heart caught in my throat.
“It wasn’t about not trusting you. It was about not trusting that you’d want to stay once you knew how much more was required for me to be the man you deserve. I was afraid.”
“Sweetheart, if you haven’t figured out by now that there’s little you could do that would send me running in the other direction, I don’t know what to tell you. Either you trust me completely or you don’t.”
“I know. I do… trust you that is.”
