His head tilted slightly. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” While I wasn’t about to mention how panicked she’d been when I’d arrived, I also needed Alex to know just how childish Winnie was. “She asked me for help immediately,videos already up on her phone to show me where Winnie was the last time she posted. She didn’t stop calling her and then, when she finally got a hold of her, she got her out of there and back to the hotel without ever speaking to their father.”
“There was no drama from her side?” he asked, thoughtful now.
I shook my head. “Not a drop. She kept it together all the way. Didn’t have a meltdown. Didn’t pause to think. She just handled her crazy sister like a pro.”
Alex’s head tilted further to the side and he was silent for another beat. “Okay, Eliza then.”
I frowned. “Eliza what?”
“Jesse marries her instead.”
I laughed, That was ridiculous, but it only took me a second to realize Alex wasn’t laughing with me. He was even smiling. He was still looking contemplative but also just a little smug.
“No,” I said immediately, my stomach dropping to my ass. “Absolutely not. We’re not going withEliza.”
“Why not? She’s perfect,” Alex said, apparently already in decision mode. “It sounds like she’s grounded, calm, and responsible. That’s exactly the type of woman who could wrangle Jesse back into the family fold.”
“This isn’t a ranch,” I snapped, not really wanting to examine why I was feeling so defensive of her. “You can’t just wranglepeopleintomarriage.”
He sighed. “Clearly, Winnie is clearly unsuitable.”
“That doesn’t mean you just substitute her sister like she’s the backup option,” I argued. “She’s a human being, Alex.”
A human being I might want for myself.Even as I had the thought, I was mentally backtracking.No. No. No. No. You need to talk yourself out of that, bro, but later.
Because unfortunately, Alex hadthatlook in his eyes now. The one that said he’d already made up his mind and the rest of the world just had to catch up.
“Winnie is out,” he said firmly, like it was a done deal. “Eliza is in.”
“You’re asking for a PR firestorm.” I scowled, my head shaking repeatedly. “You realize that, right? When the details of this get out, and theywillget out, we will face theworstkind of backlash.”
“We’ll manage it. We got through the whole thing with Nate and Kate just fine. If Callum could smooth that over, I’m sure he’d do just fine with this.”
“We’re not magicians. Neither is Callum.”
He shrugged. “We’re close enough.”
“No. We’re not and we’re not fucking doing this.” I finally looked at him again, wondering how he could even be suggesting this, but especially not as calmly and as casually as he was. “Do you even remember what happened with Charlotte, or have you decided to just give up on beingyoucompletely and to fully become Dad instead?”
His jaw tightened. “This is nothing like that.”
“It’s exactly like that.” I held his gaze steadily, needing him to remember how hard he’d fought against that situation. “Do you remember how she felt when she nearly got pawned off on Gregory for the very same reason you want to pawn Eliza off on Jesse now? Do you remember howyoufelt? Please tell me this is ringing some bells for you, because it’s absolutely impossible that you’re suddenly okay with doing that to somebody else.”
He leaned back slowly, some of the iron certainty easing out of his posture as he thought it over. Finally, he inhaled deeply enough that I saw his chest rise and then he blew out again, just as slowly, before turning back to me. “Okay. What do you think?”
That was probably the first reasonable thing he’d said all morning. I lifted my hands and scrubbed both palms over my face. I tried to find words that wouldn’t make it sound like I was interested in her.
Because I’m not. Obviously.
“Jesse won’t settle down,” I said finally. “Period. It’s a lost cause. That’s what I think.”
Alex frowned. “He will. Because he has to. Just like I had to, and Nate, and Charlotte. Just like you will have to eventually, but this one in particular is for Dad, and he won’t let up until it’s done. He’ll be a problem if we even try to get out of it, Will.”
“Jesse is Jesse, and that’s who he’s been since the day he was born. That’s kind of his whole thing. He won’t fall in line just because you did or I will, and as for Dad, just put him in an old folks’ home.”
“He’s already living in a retirement estate in Florida,” he said. “That’s about as close to an old folks’ home as we’re going to get him at this point. As tempting as it might be to try.”
