Mick held a hand up, a signal that he was in control. Then he moved around me, coming face to face with his blood.
“Stay the fuck away frommywife andourchildren.” Their eyes held and unspoken words were exchanged, ones that I would’ve rather not understood.Warwas the central concept.
I hated to see the dissolution of whatever meager bond had formed over the years. Both of them were good men, just pitted against each other since birth.
Mick tore his eyes from Mitch’s first, rushing off to his car, and then peeled out, driving like a madman back to the hospital.
Silence reached us after he had gone. Mitch took a heavy seat on the steps. I walked to one side of the porch, looking out at the small patch of woods.
“Mitch,” I said. “I rarely meddle in your business. Half of the time I don’t even want to know. This is serious now, Lewis. I don’t like where this is going. I never did. I never spoke up because he’s your brother, man, and whatever shred of love that’s left, I didn’t want to be the one to destroy it.”
“I asked her to leave him,” he said. “I can’t stand to go another day without her. The accident, the loss of my leg, it made me reevaluate things, you know.”
He sniffed. He was crying.
“I can’t do it anymore, Fausti. I didn’t choose to love her; love chose me to love her. I was just too—” he took a deep breath and then let it out slowly “—too much of a coward to accept it, accept her, and all of the responsibilities that comes with sharing a life with someone else.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t want to be a fuck-up like my old man. She deserved better. So I talked myself out of it. Mick, he’s a good guy. I knew he’d take care of her. He’d give her what she deserved. For the most part.”
Mitch was always made to feel like he never deserved good—Mick was the recipient of that mentality. And it was pounded so hard into Mitch’s head that he eventually believed it. No matter what his friends told him, it never compared to what his mother told him. I’d always known why he had given Violet up, and so had she.
“I get it.” A cool breeze floated past, rustling the trees and raising goosebumps on my arms. “But what’s done is done, Lewis. You can’t expect her to leave him because you’ve suddenly seen the light. The kids—what about them?”
“That’s the problem.” His breath trembled out. “She loves us both now—equally. Two halves that make the whole of her love. But I can’t keep up with the lies, the deceit, and if she makes her choice and it’s not me, I’ll bow out gracefully. I’ll see the kids, but not her. I’ll always love her, but this time, I’ll accept what is.”
“Tell me how this is going to go down if she decides to leave.”
“It’ll be the hardest conversation I’ll ever have.”
“You’re going to tell him.”
“Yeah, man to man. If she says yes to me, I’ll tell him. I’ll fight him for her, if that’s what it comes to.”
After what I had seen today in Mick, there was no doubt that it would come down to a fight—a bloody war.
“He knows,” Mitch said. “He’s always known, but he was too much of a coward to call me out. Afraid of the truth, just like I was.”
I watched the woods for any signs of Scarlett, but so far, she hadn’t showed herself. Thinking of the doe, I couldn’t help but think about the laws of nature and how simple they all were compared to how we as a human race lived—how complicated we made life, how hard and smeared it could become, the consequences to our own selfish acts.
“I know how fucked-up my life is, Fausti. That’s why I’ve decided to straighten it out. I’ll die trying. Hell, I almost died messing it up.” He sniffed, hard.
“This could happen to anyone, anyone at all. As tight as you and Scarlett are, it could still happen to you. None of us are immune. She could fall for the new soccer coach. The one who stares at her during Paul’s soccer practices and chats her up after. He has a bulldog named Waldo. Such a showoff.”
I knew he was attempting to slow his own tears by consoling himself with thewhat ifsof other people’s lives. Mitch was still fucking Mitch.
Turning to him, I narrowed my eyes. “The new coach.”
He used his sleeve to wipe his dripping nose. “Santiago Rodrigo. He was some big-shot soccer player in Spain, until an injury benched him for good. Now he teaches Spanish at the college, and on the side, soccer to the kids. The mothers go to watch him.”
Scarlett had gone to a few of Paul’s soccer practices, mostly to help Violet with Mary. She was quick, and carrying twins, Violet had become slow. Nino and a few of the men had accompanied my wife the three times she went when Rocco was in town and we had our standard business meeting, going over all of our investments.
None of the men reported this to me.
I cleared my throat. “It’s not going to happen, Lewis. Scarlett and I were meant to be together, but it’s still a choice. For us, it’s always yes. We leave no room for anyone or anything that tries to come between us.”
“Yeah,” he said, letting the tears fall without wiping them. “I know that. I was just trying to make myself feel better. You two are solid. Always have been. An inspiration to the rest of us. No matter what life throws at the two of you, you team up and only become stronger. Don’t listen to me right now, Fausti. My head isn’t on straight. I’m worried about Violet.”
The slightest of movements, a flicker in my peripheral, and the sound of grass and dried leaves being crushed beneath something hard caught my attention. A frisson of excitement coursed through my veins, and all of the hairs stood erect on my body. It was as if lightning had struck close, raising my awareness, and thunder shook my bones.
