“Oh yeah? And what was that?” I bit out, defaulting to defensiveness in an attempt to protect myself.
But Corrine knew me too well to be deterred. “A family, Gwen. Garrett was right there, arms open, ready to give you the one thing you’ve been craving for so long, but you were too scared to reach out and take it. You wouldn’t let yourself be happy with him.”
That telltale stinging in my nose let me know I was dangerously close to tears. “You don’t understand, Corrie,” I whispered, my voice husky with pain. “It wouldn’t have worked. Eventually he would have gotten tired and moved on.”
Her palm came down on the tabletop, smacking so loudly I jumped. “How could you possibly know that? You didn’t even try!”
“Ididtry!” I objected. But it was a lie. I never really gave it my all.
“Bullshit. You didn’t, because if you had, you’d have realized the truth. That man would have walked through fire for you and that little girl. He’d have bent over backward, tied himself in knots to protect you guys from anything. I know that because I saw him do that exact thing. You think, if you guys eventuallywent the distance, he wouldn’t have shielded you from every pain he possibly could? Helivedfor you. If you had given him the chance, he could have given you the life you wanted… thefamilyyou wanted. A man like him protects what’s his, Gwen. A man like that is worth fighting for, because a man like that would spend his life making sure you woke up happy every single day.”
A sob wrenched itself from my throat. I slapped my hands over my mouth as tears started pouring down my cheeks. “O-oh God,” I said on a ragged hiccup as my cheeks grew wetter. “Oh God. I fucked up.”
She nodded sullenly. “You did, honey.”
“Shit, Corrie! That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Her lips turned up in a small grin as she said, “Well, if it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s unfixable. If you want him and are willing to fight, I think he’d take you back.”
Hope bloomed in my chest. “You really think so?”
“I do. But you have to be positive, Gwen. If you can’t give him that, you need to let him go.”
With those words of warning, that bloom in my chest started to shrivel back up again. “What if I’m too late? What if he’s done andhe’salready let go?”
“Only one way for you to find out.” She stood and went into her room, leaving me alone at the table wondering if she was going to impart wisdom or just leave me hanging. When she finally came back out, she had a bright, sneaky smile on her face as she placed a single piece of paper down in front of me.
“What’s that?”
“What’s it look like?” she asked sarcastically. “It’s a boarding pass. I had every faith that my little ‘come to Jesus’ would sink in. That’s why Ian and I went halfsies and bought you a plane ticket to San Fran so you could be there for your man when heneeds you. I already checked you in. All you have to do is get your ass to the airport. I can’t take you ’cause I’m on babysitting duty the next couple of days.”
My mouth was hanging open in shock as I looked from the boarding pass to Corrine, the woman who’d been part of my family for as long as I could remember. “But what if I hadn’t—”
“It’s nonrefundable.” She shrugged. “If I hadn’t helped you pull your head out of your ass, I’d have guilted you into it.”
I actually found myself laughing at her scheming ways for the first time in too long. “You wicked trickster.”
She shot me a wink and disappeared into her room once more. That time she came back pulling a small suitcase behind her. I blinked slowly before my eyebrows shot to my hairline. She shoved the handle of the suitcase at me, took me by my shoulders, and spun me around. “Don’t say I never gave you anything. Now get a move on.”
“But… wait! It’s barely midnight!” I cried. “And I need to shower and do my makeup and hair and stuff!”
“No time!” she shouted, giving me a shove toward the door. “You’re on the redeye and the funeral is later today. Your hair looks fine, you can take a whore bath at the airport, and do your makeup on the plane.” When I dug my feet in, she stopped pushing and glowered at me. “Do you want to be late? It’s now or never, Gwen. Tick tock. Time to make a decision.”
She was right. It was past time to make a decision. And I knew exactly what I was going to do. Leaning in, I placed a quick kiss on her cheek, then bolted for the door. “Thank you!” I called behind me. “Make sure Liddy eats at least one vegetable a day. Bedtime is eight o’clock, not whenever Auntie Corrie decides, and if you need anything, call me. I love you, and I owe you so big for this!”
“Love you too, babe!” she shouted after me. “You can pay me back by giving me my apartment back!”
“I’ll do my best.” I shot a smile over my shoulder as butterflies burst into flight in my belly.
The last thing I heard as I ran down the stairs was Corrine shouting, “Go get your man!”
I hoped and prayed that was exactly what I was going to do.
TWENTY-NINE
Peoplein the media were vultures, the very worst kinds of human beings. “God, they’re assholes,” I hissed under my breath as I watched the photographers and reporters from the entryway window, just waiting to get a tiny peek at Civil Corruption as they arrived at the funeral of a beloved friend. “I just want to punch every one of them right in the face.”
Ian let out a low, reverberating chuckle from beside me. He’d been at the airport to pick me up when I landed, using the excuse of going to the funeral home early to set up security as a reason for his absence. I was running on no sleep. The only things keeping me going were adrenaline and the knowledge that I was going to see Garrett again. That was all I needed. We’d had just enough time to make a little detour to do something I needed to do before I saw him again, change into the black dress Corrine had packed, and still get to the funeral home before the guys were set to arrive.
