“And he really tried, Lex,” she whispers when she’s ready to continue.
“We all did,” I tell her. “Those first few weeks you were gone, we all called, texted, drove around trying to find you.”
Rory’s head drops, her shoulders shaking silently, until she collects herself and looks up again. “I don’t believe in regrets, Lex,” she says, voice thick. “But I am sorry for what I put you guys through.”
I nod, blinking rapidly to stem more emotion from leaking out.
I’ve let out a lifetime’s worth in the past couple weeks. There shouldn’t be any more left in me.
“I believe you,” I tell her. “And we’re glad you came back.”
Her hand reaches out, across the small space between us, and grasps mine. She doesn’t cringe or flinch at the dirt caked beneath my nails, that’s tucked into my knuckles. It’s like she doesn’t even notice that she, Rory Weiss-Grady, is getting filthy with me.
“I told Dad all about New York, my career. About New Heights. Even showed him a picture of his granddaughter.”
My other hand claps to my mouth, covering the smile that breaks out on my face.
“It was a good start,” she says diplomatically. “I’m not sure what forgiveness looks like. But I think we’re on the right path.”
“I think it looks like this,” I tell her, squeezing her hand. “When someone hurt you, but you love them more than you resent what they did to you, and you’d rather have them in your life.”
“Are we gonna be okay?” she whispers, voice cracking.
“We already are,” I tell her.
She lunges forward, wrapping me in her skinny arms and holding me longer than I can remember her ever doing before.
Man, becoming a mother has really softened her up.
Maybe I can blame my reactions on becoming an auntie, because this shit isn’t like either of us.
“There’s just one more thing I have to get off my chest,” she says, clearing her throat as she pulls back from me, her serious face back in place.
Here we go.
“I hate that you felt you couldn’t tell me about the money.”
I roll my eyes, gesturing to her. “So you could’ve blown up at me way back then? You would’ve lost your shit that I was talking to Dad, much less taking money from him.”
“I would’ve gotten over it,” she says softly. “What hurts so much worse is that you lied to me. You put me in a position where I have to ruin my big sister’s dream.”
My head pulls back at that.
“Ugly truths and pretty lies,” she muses, fingers in the grass at her side, plucking a few blades and rolling them in one hand. “I would’ve rather you told me from the start. Being in the position I’m in now, this is the hardest part of all of it for me. Having to turn you in and burst your dream after helping you build it. It’s scarring me, Lexi. I’m sick to my stomach over it, day in and day out.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, but it lodges somewhere around my lungs, burning.
“I’m looking for every possible solution, combing the fine print of the legislation on this program, but I’m really worried there isn’t one.”
Lifting a shoulder, I nod back at her. “You and Dad have to live with your mistakes. This is me living with mine too.”
Her eyes pinch tight and she shakes her head quickly. “I don’t want that for you.”
“Hey,” I tell her, reaching back out for her hand. “Maybe another buyer will come along, and maybe they’ll let me stay on as manager.”
Rory’s sad gaze hollows my insides as she watches me, gauging whether I really mean it. If I’m actually okay with this.
And I’m surprised when it’s peace that I feel at the acceptance of my fate. Maybe disappointed peace, but I made this bed. It’s only fair I’m the one who can’t nap in it.
