“I know that too, but what I asked you here to discuss is what you’re doing to fix it?”
I swallowed down a mouthful of the bitter, scalding liquid before I replied. “I’m not sure what that has to do with you.”
Thomas tilted his head as if my comment was ridiculous and we sat there in silence for a beat before I felt compelled to answer. “She told me that I broke what we had and it could never be the same again.”
“Right.” He said the word so slowly, as if I’d missed an important point and he was waiting for me to get the punch line. My brows pinched as I had no idea what he was getting at. Thomas sighed and leaned back, spreading his arms across the back of the booth. “So, you’re done?”
“She made it clear that she was.”
“And then you did what?”
“I left.”
He scoffed. “And you’ve done what since then?”
I let my shoulders rise and fall. “Nothing. I accepted what she wanted. I backed off.”
“Right, because that’s what every woman wants. A man who gives up on her at the first hurdle.”
“You don’t understand…”
“I do. I told you I know most things. I did a background check on you, Jax. Your medical history showed up as part of that.”
My hand tightened around my mug so hard I wondered if it would break. “You knew? Aren’t my medical filesprivate?Did you tell Helen… did she know?”
Had she known all along?
Thomas shook his head vigorously. “No one knew… I told Sean—you’ve met him, right?—before I… well, you know, fell off a cliff for a while, but he was under strict instructions not to mention it. Your secret was always safe with us, Jackson.” I raised my brow. “Sorry, Jax. Look, I’m sorry for what you went through, but I know Helen well enough to know she wouldn’t care about any of that.”
I blew out a resigned breath. “She didn’t, but she hated that I didn’t talk to her and that I left her. I mean, I told her I loved her, and then I moved out while she was asleep.”
“Yeap, that’s going to fuck her off.” Thomas leaned forward again, almost conspiratorially. “Look, can I give you some advice?” He didn’t wait for me to reply. “Helen has put other people first her whole life—her husband, her kids, her friends, fuck, even me and her job. She’s always been at the bottom of the list and because she did that, the people in her life did that too… with the exception of me, of course.”
A smile tugged at my lips. “Of course.”
“Helen wants to be made to feel important, put first. Although she’d never admit it, she wants to be the main character when all she’s ever believed is she’s giving off supporting character energy.”
I already knew that was the truth.
“And in what fairy tale or romance book did you ever hear that the main character found someone who loved her, but at the first challenge, they walked away and didn’t look back?”
Fuck.
“Have you ever heard of Kintsugi?”
I shook my head.
“It’s a type of Japanese art. They believe that when something is broken, like a bowl or a vase, you can put it back together with gold paint. The gold shows that not only can anything be fixed, but you can celebrate its flaws and imperfections by creating something stronger and more unique than what you started with. By highlighting the scars, you don’t ruin things, but you make them more beautiful.”
Goosebumps rushed my skin, and for the first time in weeks, hope filled my chest. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now go make Helen better than fine.”
Helen
“How’s Jasper settling into his new life?” Becks asked as she stared out of my patio doors while the rain hammered against them, obscuring the view of the small garden I’d been filling with flowers to help me stay busy, so I didn’t think about how much I was missing certain people in my life. Jasper being gone was hard enough, but the empty space in my house that Jax left felt like a void I’d never fill.
“Amazing,” I replied as I placed the mugs of tea on the table. “He’s loving it. His house is stunning. The people he works with have been really welcoming. I think he’s going to really thrive out there.”
