A few minutes later, footsteps sounded from the stairs and his father joined them. After the father-son greeting and his mother instructing her husband to take a seat, they both looked at Landon and waited.
Unable to sit still, he rose to his feet and began pacing. “So Mom already figured out this is about Vivi. The woman you met the other day,” he clarified.
His father shot him an amused grin. “Figured that out already, son. What is it? Did you knock her up?”
“Samuel!” his mother said before the words obviously sank in and she turned to Landon. “Did you?” she asked hopefully.
The woman did want grandchildren. That much he knew.
“No, I did not get her pregnant. Jesus.” Although the thought didn’t bother him as much as it should, which reminded him why he was here, putting them all through this. He cleared his throat and faced them. “You met Vivi the other day.”
“Yes. And from the few minutes we spent with her, she’s lovely,” his mother said.
“Right. The thing is…” He shoved his hands into his front pants pocket. “You met her as Vivi Zane. That’s her mother’s maiden name. Her birth name is Vivienne Clark.”
He dropped the name and waited to see if they put two and two together on their own.
His mother narrowed her gaze and looked to Samuel, but neither said a word. Unable to wait, he blurted out the rest. “Clark, as in Victor Clark. She’s his sister.”
Shock registered in his parents’ faces. Obviously they’d been struggling to make the connection before. After all, it wasn’t like they went around thinking Victor’s name all the time. If anything, they tried to forget. And Landon hadn’t told them about the situation with Victor and their club, protecting them … the way Vivi had wanted to do now.
God, what had he been thinking? “You know what? Never mind. She’s leaving at the end of the summer and you won’t have to be in the same room with her again,” he rushed to say.
“Landon, sit down,” his father said in his stern, parental voice.
“Yeah. Okay.” He lowered himself back into his seat and decided to lay it all out for them, sparing them asking questions. “When Vivi and I first met, neither one of us knew who the other was. She made the connection first and tried not to take the job we’d offered, but I pushed because she was that talented and good for the club.”
He tapped his foot against the floor while his parents listened in silence. “And probably because I was really attracted to her. When I found out, I lost my shit. Trashed my apartment. Tanner and Jason had to come calm me down.” His mouth ran dry, and he picked up the glass of water his mother had put down at some point and took a long sip.
“Why didn’t she tell you once she knew?” his father asked in a gruff voice.
“It’s complicated. I’d insinuated her taking the job could help us out of a bind we’d been in… She thought she could sing, bring in customers, and then leave after the summer ended with no one figuring it out.” He swallowed hard, his hands entwined on the table. “Look, I was going to bite the bullet and tell you the truth the day you met her, but she panicked and I could see she wasn’t ready. She doesn’t want to dredge up pain and bad memories for you.”
“Smart girl,” his father said bitterly.
Landon didn’t blame him. “But she’s not her brother. In fact, neither she nor her mother has a relationship with Victor at all. Vivi is different. She’s special. And I can’t seem to stay away from her.” His heart thudded painfully in his chest as he faced the two people who, along with his friends, had been his lifeline when his twin was suddenly gone, brutally taken from him. From all of them.
“God, Landon. Of all the women in the world, you fall for the one whose brother was responsible for Levi’s death?” his father asked. How could you went without saying.
“The heart wants what the heart wants.” His mother, who’d been silent until now, spoke up, her words taking Landon off guard.
“Seriously, Carrie? You’re okay with this?” Samuel rose to his feet, shoving the chair roughly under the table, the noise causing a rough squeak.
“I didn’t say that.”
His mother’s sad eyes were filled with tears, and guilt swarmed inside him for bringing this to them at all. “Maybe Vivi was right and we can’t work.”
Landon’s heart squeezed in his chest at the thought of losing Vivi, but choosing between her and his family? That wasn’t a notion he’d considered. Damn, but he’d been naïve in thinking he could explain and his parents would just understand.
He and Vivi had other obstacles, and he would deal with the end of the summer when it came, but making the choice to let her go? He couldn’t do it.