Jane turned back to me, forcing a breath as she slid the earring into place. “Okay. Library gala. Charity. Let’s go.”
I leaned in, lowering my voice as we walked toward the door. “You’re exquisite.”
“You’re biased.”
“Wildly.”
She squared her shoulders, her eyes finally coming up to meet mine. “Did you two…?”
“We just had a conversation,” I said. “His heart is in the right place. He just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”
Jane shot me a look, her eyes narrowing as I pulled the door open, but she didn’t make a move to walk through it. “Alex.”
“What? I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t need to know either.” I shrugged. “I know you want to handle that.”
She hesitated, very obviously torn in half, but a moment later, she let me pull her with me. I didn’t look back. I didn’t need to. I could feel Wyatt’s confusion radiating down the hallway like heat.
The cold slapped us both in the face as we left their house. Jane didn’t speak as I opened the car door for her. She slid into the seat, smoothing her dress, her jaw tight enough to crack her teeth. I closed the door and rounded the car, already bracing myself for the consequences of that little chat I’d had with her brother.
He might not know what that word really meant yet, but I sure did. I’d simply accepted said consequences before I’d even talked to him, knowing she wouldn’t be happy with me for stepping in.
As I turned over the engine, silence stretched between us until she finally broke it when I pulled out into the street. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
She was staring straight ahead when I glanced at her in the rearview. “You were going to let him trample all over you.”
“That’s my brother.”
“And you’re my wife.”
She scoffed quietly. “You don’t get to bulldoze my family just because?—”
“Just because you came to me for help on Sunday?” I cut in. “Because you were crying on my couch and telling me you didn’t know what to do? Or because you avoided me the rest of the week like I was radioactive?”
Her head snapped toward me. “That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it?” I asked. “Youcametome, Jane. You couldn’t have expected that I’d just watch you cry and then not do anything about it.”
She folded her arms, retreating inward, the ice queen mask sliding back into place like armor she’d been wearing for so long, she’d forgotten it weighed anything. “I handle things with my family, Alex. I always have.”
“And how’s that working out for you?” I shot back. “Because from where I’m sitting, you’re exhausted, miserable, and letting a seventeen-year-old dictate the terms of your life.”
Her lips pressed into a thin, hard line. “You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t,” I said evenly. “I do understand this, though. He basically called you a homewrecker and walked out without even letting you speak, but you’re still trying to protect him and that’s what I don’t understand. He’s not a kid, Jane.”
She shot me a look cutting enough to slice through the delicate tendrils of the bond we’d been forming if I kept this up. “He’s young. You should’ve let me talk to him.”
“I didn’t even tell him anything,” I said.
She scoffed but then shook her head and turned to face the window, and the rest of the drive passed in brittle silence. The warmth from the weekend, the softness and the laughter were suddenly gone as if it’d never existed.
I let out a harsh sigh but left her to stew while I did the same thing. We pulled up to the library with its lights blazing against the dark sky and expensive cars lining the drive. Valets in crisp coats moved like clockwork, the gala clearly already in full swing.
Jane inhaled slowly, visibly resetting herself before she finally turned to glance at me again. “Please don’t make tonight harder than it needs to be.”
I met her gaze. “I won’t, but I’m not invisible, Jane. And neither is this.”
Reaching out, I smoothed my thumb over the ring on her finger, and for a beat, she just watched me do it. Then she sighed and nodded. “Fine.”
