“You think he left just because of them?”
I press the tip of my tongue against my teeth. The question hangs between us, and I know the answer even though I don’t want to admit it. “No. The way they acted towards him, it hit a nerve. I guess if it wasn’t them, it would have been something else eventually.”
Not that it makes me any less angry at the two of them.
I fiddle with my hoodie strings, wrapping them around my fingers until the tips turn white. “When he told me that he’s not good enough for me, I don’t know. I froze. I didn’t know what to say. How can I convince him that he is?”
This time, I can’t hold the tears back. They spill from my eyes, making hot tracks down my cheeks. My vision blurs, and I’m grateful for the hood hiding most of my face from the other travelers passing by. “I love him.”
“Are you going to tell him that?”
I sigh and wipe away the tears with the heels of my hands. “What’s the point? I can’t convince him that our relationship is worth it. I made him come here because it’s important to me that you all know him.”
“Can’t you be with Oliver even if everyone in your life doesn’t like him?”
I stretch my legs out and stare at my shoes. The laces are loose on one side, but I can’t bring myself to care. “Yeah.”
That’s been my biggest mistake. I should have just let things be. Not cared that my mom and Jemma don’t like Oliver and think that I’ve made a mistake getting back together with him. Things would have probably smoothed themselves out eventually. Even if it took years.
I felt like I had to push, though, and I pushed Oliver to his breaking point. Now I’ve lost him forever.
“When Henry and I first met, things weren’t smooth sailing.” My dad’s eyes soften as he gazes off into space, past the crowds of people rushing to their gates. “He’d just lost his husband, remember?”
I nod, my throat sore from holding back a sob.
He continues. “He didn’t think he was ready for something serious, even though I was crazy about him and wanted to get married in Vegas right then and there. That was hard… Also, he had a lot of hang-ups from his marriage. It was complicated even before I was involved.”
“But you still ended up together. It worked out.”
He raises his eyebrows at me. “And the first two years were rocky as hell.”
“I didn’t know that.” The revelation catches me offguard. I’ve always thought of Dad and Henry as the perfect couple, the ones who had it all figured out.
“You were a kid. It wouldn’t have been right for you to see all of that. I also didn’t know if things would work out between us. We were always right on the edge, teetering on the brink of disaster.”
“So what changed?” I hold my breath, waiting for the magic cure-all that I still have some faith in.
“Nothing.”
I frown. “What?”
“Really.” He shrugs, and there’s something matter-of-fact in his expression that makes me believe him. “Nothing. We kept going. Kept putting one foot in front of the other. Rode the waves together. Learned from the challenges that came up. Got to know each other better every day.”
“That’s what Oliver and I were doing,” I whisper. The words feel hollow in my mouth. “And it wasn’t enough. He still threw in the towel.”
“Things are hardly ever final. You can still talk to him. Remind him that just because a relationship is hard it doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.”
Hope flickers through me, small and fragile like a candle flame. Is that true? Will Oliver even listen to me?
“What about them?” I nod at Jemma and Mom, standing in the checkout line at the bookstore. Even from this distance, I can see the tension in their shoulders, the way they’re not quite looking at each other. “They’ve been so awful to Oliver. I only brought him here because of them, and they treated him like shit. I don’t know… I don’t know if I can forgive them.”
It’s a harsh statement I never could have imagined I’d make about my own family. It kills me to even think it, let alone say it, but I can’t deny the truth. They’re the ones who pushed Oliver away.
“Here’s the thing,” my dad slowly says. “They were trying to protect you.”
“That doesn’t—” I close my mouth, remembering what Oliver told me about his family. About how his parents’ rude remarks, as terrible as they can be, come from a place of wanting him to be better. Which is exactly what he used to do with me.
It’s similar to what’s happening now with my mom and Jemma. Their intentions are in the right place. The execution is what’s off.
