Fakers (Licking Thicket 1)

“Malachi is right,” my own mother said, striding forward to wrap an arm around Mal’s shoulders. “You left and broke all of our hearts, Brooks!”

“Oh, God. Mama, please.” Gracie covered her face with her hands and shook her head. “He did not.”

“Has anyone seen my dad?” Dunn demanded, knowing my dad was the only one who could put the cork back in my mother’s bottle. “Is he here yet?”

“And now, by failing to give your boyfriend the love he so desperately craved,” my mother continued, undeterred, “you’ve driven him into Ava’s arms!”

“Yeah!” Mal agreed. He paused and frowned, then shrugged like facts had ceased to be important. “What your mom said!”

I scowled down at him. “What the hell are you talking about? You know better!” I waved a hand in Paul’s direction. “Tell them, Paul!”

“I mean, it’s true that Brooks was never very emotionally available to me,” Paul said sadly.

I turned and speared him with a look that promised endless painful retribution.

“But also, I’m straight,” he admitted quickly.

“Wait, so now she turns the gay ones straight?” Amos Nutter demanded wonderingly. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“She didn’t turn him straight, Amos,” Mr. Ivey scolded. “Biology doesn’t work like that. But I’ll tell you what else I know about biology. If Ava’s pregnant, somebody’s gotta be the father.” He glared at Paul. “Was it you, son?”

“Oh, God,” Ava groaned. “No, Daddy, Paul’s not—”

“I’m the father if Ava wants me to be,” Paul said stoutly, adjusting his eyeglasses. “And the biological father of the child is Ava’s business and absolutely no one else’s.” He glared at Mr. Ivey and then at the crowd in general, more commanding than I’d ever seen him, without a trace of his inhaler in sight.

The whole town let out a collective sigh. Even Lurleen nodded in approval.

“Hear, hear!” Diesel Church called out.

Ava’s father nodded, and one side of his mouth quirked up. “Well, alright. All I’ve ever wanted for my girl is a partner who’d stand up for her. You’ll do.”

“But, Brad!” Mrs. Ivey wailed. “What if he moves her to New York?”

“Hush, Monette,” he said, patting his wife on the back. “Still closer than Los Angeles. I’m satisfied.”

I was really glad somebody around here was. But while the whole town was exclaiming over Ava, the guy I wanted was making a beeline for the door.

I jumped down from the stage and pushed through the crowd. “Mal! Stop, please!”

Mal whirled to face me. “We’ve said all there is to say. Please, Brooks—”

“But we haven’t! We haven’t. Mal, I—” Love you was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Not here, not with all these people. Not when I wasn’t sure how he felt. “I care about you. Please stay.”

“If you care about me, Brooks, then do me this one favor, okay? Take care of Ava tonight. Make sure she’s okay.” Mal sniffled a little, and I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around him. “Be the friend she needed you to be ten years ago.”

“And what about you?” I demanded. “Am I supposed to just let you walk away in the meantime?”

“Yes. I keep telling you, Brooks. There are some things you just can’t fix.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek and walked out the door.

I pressed a hand over the spot where his lips had hit my cheek and watched him go for half a minute, the need to go after him and the need to honor his wishes warring for dominance. But before I had a chance to commit one way or the other, Ava was behind me, laying a restraining hand on my arm.

“Let him go, Brooks.”

“You know what happened to him before, Ava. He left his hometown, and not a single person went after him. I want him to know… to know that…”

Ava pulled me into a one-armed hug. “When Mal left his hometown, it wasn’t his choice, Brooks. He had to leave. When he landed in LA, it was because he ran out of money.” She smiled faintly. “There’s not a lot in Mal’s life that’s really been his choice, you know? It’s just been a string of reactions to other people’s needs and wants. Including mine. Right now, he made a choice, and we have to respect that even if it’s not the choice either of us wish he’d made. Respect the space he’s asking you for.”

“But he looked so damn sad—”

“He’ll be okay, Brooks. I’ll make sure of it.”

I let out a shaky breath and admitted my true fear. “But what if he goes and—”

“And doesn’t come back to Licking Thicket for, like, ten whole years? Or never comes back at all? Then I guess that’s his choice too, isn’t it?”

I glanced down at her. Fuck. It really was.

I’d spun out this whole fantasy life of me and Mal in the Thicket, and then I’d tried to show him how perfect it was…