Chapter Twenty-Four
Smiling at customers who came by the stall was proving to be a monumental task for Zach, and having to put a on a brave face in front of his grandma was even worse.
He missed Flynn. It’d only been a day, and it wasn’t like they saw each other every day, either, but he felt hollow knowing that he’d lost him, probably for good.
The choice he’d made felt like a mistake. It would have been better to have Flynn. He hadn’t realized how awful he’d feel without him, but…
This was what real heartbreak felt like. Hethoughthe’d been heartbroken when Aiden suddenly left him, but this… this was a thousand times worse.
Because it had beenreal. What he’d had with Flynn had been real, and good, and exactly what he’d wanted from his life. Someone warm and kind and fundamentally good to come home to, someone who could love him unconditionally, someone who wanted to be around him because of who he was, not just for the sex or for the sake of not being alone.
He’d had that.
And he’d thrown it away to hang onto a lie. A lie he hated telling.
All he could think about now was Flynn’s smile, and his laughter, and the way his eyes had lit up when he’d shown him his studio, the way his hands had been all over everything. The feeling, deep in Zach’s gut, that he’d finally found someone whogothim. Even though Flynn knew nothing about art.
When he was in high school, Zach had read Wuthering Heights. The only part of it he remembered was the linewhatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same. He’d gone over it with a highlighter, because he’d known as soon as he read it that it was what he was looking for.
That was how he felt about Flynn. They didn’t have to be similar people, not really. They didn’t have to have all the same interests.
None of that mattered. What mattered was that being with Flynnfelt good, better than being with anyone else ever had, and Zach wanted that.
And now he was afraid that he couldn’t get it back.
But if he wanted it back… the first step would have to be telling the truth. So he could prove to Flynn that he wanted him even when he didn’tneedhim.
“Grandma?” Zach began, unsure exactly where to start. “I, umm. I need to tell you something,” he said, sitting back down in his chair beside her.
“Is this about Flynn, honey?” she asked.
All Zach could do for a handful of seconds was stare. Sheknew. Or at least suspected.
“Yeah.” He swallowed, pausing to gather his thoughts. “Yeah, I… I think you know he wasn’t… when we got married… he’s Aiden’s brother. Aiden was who I was supposed to marry, and I really did want to, I promise. But then he left me the night before the wedding, and Flynn offered to take his place when I explained what was at stake, and… we lied to you. I’m sorry.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Violet said, smiling warmly and reaching out to squeeze Zach’s arm. “I figured it was something like that.”
“Why didn’t yousayso?” Zach asked, his head pounding. She’d known the entire time and he’d spent so long being worried about it.
“Because as soon as I realized you’d go through with something like that for the chance to go back to school, I knew it was what you really wanted. I could see how determined you were, and that it wasn’t a whim, and that you were smart and resourceful enough to make it work,” she said calmly.
The whole world seemed to tilt under Zach’s feet.
He should have known he couldn’t fool his grandma. He’d never been able to before.
“Oh,” Zach said, unsure what else therewasto say.
“You’ve had a fight,” his grandma continued perceptively. Although, Zach suspected that he hadn’t been as subtle about it as he would have liked.
“Yeah.” He sighed heavily, glancing over at the stall opposite, wishing things had gone differently. “Aiden—his brother, my ex—showed back up and he was mad about us,” Zach explained.
To her credit, Violet barely reacted.
It wasn’tthatweird, Zach had decided. It wasn’t as though he’d been cheating on Aiden with his brother or anything, they’d clearly broken up at the time.
“Aiden left me right before the wedding,” he continued, knowing they’d been over this but wanting to be clear—even in his own head, things were such a mess right now that he knew he needed to explain himself carefully. “And then Flynn showed up and I explained to him what the deal was, and he offered to step in. To pick up after his brother, like he’s been doing his whole life. And I let him because I wanted this so bad. But then… we started getting to know each other, and he’s been helping me out, too, and I just…”
“You love him,” Violet said. “I could see it written all over your face at dinner on Friday.”
