“I’ll be inside if you need anything.” She stood, and he turned to watch her leave, wondering what he’d be feeling right now if he didn’t have support on his side. Yeah, he didn’t care much on the love and emotion end if Brittany wanted to say forget about the marriage, but that didn’t mean the two years he’d spent with her had meant nothing to him.
He saw Lake standing by the door, and when she moved back to let Ginny in, he saw for the first time, or maybe just now noticed, that Lake wasn’t a little girl anymore. Although when he’d first met her, when she a teenager, she had been old enough to know how the world could screw over a person.
She might even know that more than the average person because of the loss she’d experienced. And although she was all of twenty, she looked older now, had this air of maturity to her.
She moved away from the door, shut it behind her, and walked toward him.
“Can I take a seat?” she asked and pointed to the seat Ginny had been sitting in.
“Sure.” He leaned back on the patio chair and propped his legs up, staring at the sky. The pool’s lights didn’t dim the stars, but he wasn’t nearly drunk enough to give a shit about anything at the moment. He wanted to be numb, because this certainly wasn’t how he’d seen his life going after he’d gotten married.
Hell, he hadn’t really ever seen himself getting married when he was younger. But then when he’d proposed, he told himself it would be this one and only time. Nice fucking situation that had turned out.
“I’m really sorry about Brittany and the marriage.”
He didn’t look at her when she spoke, because he honestly didn’t want her to see him in this weak state, and to him that’s what this felt like. He felt like a fucking failure as a man and a husband, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it now.
“Thanks, I do appreciate that, but I guess this just goes to prove some shit just isn’t meant to be, and that life isn’t always what it seems.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” she said softly, and he did look at her then.
“No?”
She shook her head. “Well, not all of what you said at least.”
“And why do you say that?”
She shrugged, stared at the water for a moment, and then looked at him again. “Because I think sometimes the truth is right in front of us, but we either can’t see it just yet, or we don’t want to.” She shrugged again. “Life gives us things that seem totally fucked.” She blushed after she cursed, and he couldn’t help but smile at that. “I guess I’m just saying sometimes life gives us situations that seem great, seem like they’ll make us happy, but in the end they weren’t right for us after all.” She stared at him. “I think that happens to make us stronger.”
It was strange hearing someone so young speak so genuinely about life and how she felt about it all, as if she’d thought hard on everything.
She probably has, ever since losing her mom.
“You make this seem a lot better.” He smiled, actually feeling a little less pissed about the whole situation after speaking to her.
“Well, I learned a while ago that sometimes you just have to look on the bright side.” She looked flustered after she said that. “I didn’t mean your situation should be taken lightly—”
“I know what you meant.” And he did. He sat up and faced her. “You made me feel better, so thank you for that.” She blushed again, and he couldn’t help but grin. But as he stared at her he took note that her innocence and vulnerability didn’t just make her this sweet girl, but also this gorgeous woman.
She could see the light when things looked pretty fucking dark. Her long dark hair was over one shoulder in a loose braid, and little wisps of hair fell around her face. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her small nose and stared at him with wide blue eyes, and he had to clear his throat and turn from her.
He wasn’t thinking the most honorable thoughts about her right now, and that made him feel like a sick fucking bastard.
They were family by marriage, and if he was being technical he was her step-uncle. She’d come out here to make him feel better about his situation, and what was he thinking?
That she is so damn pretty and you’d like to kiss her.
“Are you okay?” she asked, obviously sensing the fact his body language had changed.
“I’m good, Lake.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you again for the talk.” Although he hadn’t meant to make that sound so dismissive, it did, in fact, sound like he was pushing her away. He didn’t look at her again, suddenly feeling really uncomfortable in her presence.