“Something…tragic…happened in high school and it broke him. For a long time, we weren’t sure if he was going to be okay. But eventually, he pulled through.” There was a look of awe in her eyes. “He’s one of the most resilient people I know. He’s like Sophie in that way.” She chewed her lip for a second. “I guess what I’m saying is…Holden might date a lot of women, but he’s not incapable of loving someone. On the contrary, he loves deeply. And I don’t think he likes all the dating, actually. It’s like that one saying—there’s a God-sized hole in every man’s soul?”
I shook my head. I’d never heard that or anything like it. And why had she suddenly brought God into it?
“Well, there’s a soulmate-sized hole in Holden’s soul and he’s trying to fill it. He’s just going about it the wrong way. I’m not sure he even knows that’s what he’s doing. But it is.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I shook my head, mind reeling. Because this did, in fact, feel like a peace mission after all.
“Just…be patient. It might take him a little time. But he’ll be worth the wait. I promise.” Then she patted my hand, stood, and walked back out through the doors.
Wow.
Lemon, someone I’d viewed as my archnemesis, had just pep-talked me into not giving up on her brother-in-law. Romantically. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it.
My hands pressed against my cheeks. Staggered, I dared to hope that she knew her brother-in-law as well as she thought she did. Because, apparently, my busted, sputtering heart was resting right in the middle of his strong, capable hands.
And the only way I was making it out alive was if I took it back.
As much as I hated to do it, the way was clear.
It was time to break up with my fake boyfriend.
eleven
HOLDEN
The next Tuesday, I rested my forehead against Tessie’s steering wheel, willing myself to get inside for the game. I’d skipped the team dinner, making up an excuse about our horse Maisy having a hoof abscess that I needed to tend to. It wasn’t a complete lie but Christy didn’t know that. Maisy did have an abscess, but the vet had taken care of it. I’d just helped hold Maisy still.
Truth was, I couldn’t handle the look in Christy’s eyes ever since the team dinner with the Facebook fiasco. I couldn’t even decipher it. Was she embarrassed to be associated with me? Ashamed that she’d asked me to be her assistant coach? I wasn’t sure. But it cut like a hot knife.
When I’d asked her after that game if we needed to meet up, she told me she was “good” and she had enough pictures to placate her family for a while. The disappointment I’d felt was downright embarrassing. My arms didn’t know what to do without her between them. And the longer she stayed away, the heavier this ache in my chest grew. If this went on much longer, I was going to drive to her place and beg for her to bemyfake girlfriend, for absolutely no reason at all.
A knock on the glass brought my head up. Silas.
I unrolled my window.
He bent down to talk to me, his left brow in an upside down V. “You missed the team dinner.”
“Yeah.”
“Christy said you were draining an abscess on Maisy?”
“Yeah.”
His head cocked. “But I know for a fact that Dad called the vet out to do that.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No, nimrod. But lying goes against the Dupree creed. You’re a lawyer who never, ever lies.” He threw his hands up. It was true. As a rule, I didn’t lie. Hated it when I caught someone doing it. And I’d lied to the woman who meant more to me than anyone.
I stared at my thumbs.
“The game’s about to start,” he said. “Don’t you think you should go inside and help Christy get the lineup situated?”
“Mhm. Yup.” But I just sat there, breathing, gut churning, dreading the disappointment in her eyes.
He sighed, walked around, and got into the passenger seat, closing the door behind him. Great. Here came the big brother lecture about being dependable and responsible.
He tried to face me, but couldn’t because there wasn’t enough room for the stilts he called legs. He reached down to adjust the seat and then frowned when he rammed his head into the ceiling. He swore.
