I turned back to Dane, shaking my head to dislodge the memories. “And then with you, I found myself learning to pick up the pieces and put myself back together so that I was whole again. I was something entirely new with you.”?
He sat back in his chair and eyed me, letting out a long sigh that soundedlike it had been sitting in his body for his entire life. I didn’t have to wonder what he was thinking, and I didn’t have to wonder what was coming next. I just had to wait for it.?
“Are you still in love with my brother? I deserve the truth. You’ve been leading the two of us on for most of our lives, and you need to make a choice. It’s him or me. Right now. You have to let one of us go.”?
Dane, for once, was right. I did have to let one of them go. History was repeating itself, and even though I had fallen in love with Lee Wilder all over again, I knew I had to set him free to keep being who he was meant to be. A decade had passed since we said goodbye, but nothing had changed for me. My heart was still his, and it always would be. But I couldn’t hold him back then, and I sure as hell couldn’t do it now—even though I knew watching him walk away again would tear me apart.
Lee Wilder hadruinedme in every way, and I’d never be the same. But that didn’t change a thing.
“The choice has already been made, Dane. He’s leaving on New Year’s Day, and you and I will be married a month after that. But I need your word, right here and now, that the bar is safe. No paperwork, no prenup, no investors. We get married, and the bar stays in my family for good.”?
He moved around the desk and wrapped me in his arms. I breathed in his scent of expensive cologne and a long morning of travel. It was jarring, going from broken glasses to a warm embrace, but I fought down the shudder deep inside me.?
“Are you sure? That will be enough to keep you happy?” he sighed.?
“As sure as ever,” I lied.?
Chapter thirty-six
LEE
Dane and I sat at opposite ends of Momma’s table for her annual New Year’s Eve brunch, irritation hanging heavy between us. We shot each other daggers with every glance, silently communicating all the things we wanted to say out loud but didn’t so that Momma—or worse, Daddy—wouldn’t get involved. We aggressively passed plates back and forth, noisily clanging silverware and slamming down our glasses.?
“What time does your flight leave tomorrow, Lee?” my father asked, ready to be rid of me.?
“Two p.m. I’m packed and, believe me, beyond ready to get back to Nashville and start this tour.”?
My momma rolled her eyes and passed down a plate of black-eyed peas. “It’s been so nice having you here these last few months. I hate seeing you go.”?
Dane scoffed, and I bit my tongue for a moment. “I know, Momma, but I’ll be back. I’ll soon own a business in town, so I’ll need to check on it from time to time.”?
What I was saying between the lines was completely obvious to my brother, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.?
Never one to be outdone, though, he started yammering on about the wedding. “She’s chosen our first dance song, and we settled on the appetizers. I tried to coax her into letting Sutton work a bit, but since she’ll be the maid of honor, that may be hard.”?
“Well, darlin’, she’s in the wedding party. Magnolia is going to need Sutton more than you need her cooking that day. I sorely regretted not having my best friend at my wedding.”?
My father shot her a look, and I realized that Momma, Daddy, and I werethe only ones in the room who knew what she truly meant.?
“I get it. I’m just worried that LaMonte will bring in some second-class caterer and that we will lose the appeal of having Sutton as our chef for the evening. Everyone is so accustomed to having her delight their palate.”?
I groaned and rolled my eyes from my side of the table, watching this absolute idiot shovel food into his face and not even realize how important it would be for Magnolia, the woman he was about to marry, to have her best friend be there for her on their wedding day and not cooking, like hired help.?
Someone that was his friend once, too.?
It just went to show how out of touch with reality my brother was and always would be. It killed me that this was the kind of bullshit Maggie was going to be subjected to for the rest of her life. But this is what she wanted. This is what she chose, even ten years ago when she told me to walk away.?
“What’s the first stop on the tour, Leland?” Momma asked, changing the subject.?
“Atlanta, and then we move to South Carolina,” I said, chewing my food and keeping my eyes on the table. If I looked up, I knew I would find my brother staring me down, jealous yet again that the conversation had moved on to me.?
“They can’t be paying you a lot,” my father interjected. “You’re the first act of four, which, for someone with a Grammy Award, that’s kind of like singing Karaoke at O’Malley’s for a living.”?
“I should be so lucky,” I slipped.?
“Ohfuckyou, Lee! I won. I got the girl in the end. Please, just leave and move on,” Dane said, standing up so fast my momma jumped and knocked her drink over. I moved just as quick as him, though, and before we knew it, we were tangled up and throwing punches over my momma’s dining room table like we were teenagers.?
***
