One dark brow arched.
“Look, I just want you to be comfortable. I know how difficult it is for you to hang out with them. It means a lot you were willing to come.”
“You want this to work. So do I. Part of that is making peace with your friends.” She stepped away from him, shoulders straightening, head tipping up as she moved with purpose up the deck steps. Tucker hurried after her.
As Tyler came out of the house with a platter for the burgers about to come off the grill, Corinne spoke. “I’d like to say something, if y’all don’t mind.”
“What are you doing?” Tucker asked.
“What I should’ve done a long time ago.”
He knew in an instant that she was about to rip the Band-aid off every wound this group carried from high school. “You don’t have to do this.”
Conversation around them muted, and Tucker could all but feel the spotlight of attention turning their way.
“Yes, I do. Part of coming back here has been about me owning my mistakes. They were some of my biggest, and they have every right to
say whatever they need to to me. And you’re going to let them.”
He scowled. “The hell I will.”
“Tucker, hush.” She didn’t raise her voice, but the command in her tone was unmistakable. “You need to give all of us a little more credit.”
“It’s not about—”
Corinne laid a finger over his lips. “Stop. This needs to be done to clear the air so you don’t keep trying to crawl out of your skin every time we’re all in the same room together because you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe if she reopened these wounds, they’d finally run clean.
“All right.”
She cupped his cheek, then nudged him toward a chair. “Now sit down and stop glowering like some kind of attack dog. I don’t need you to protect me from this.”
But he still wanted to. That need to save her from any more pain rose up, had him wanting to argue. One more look from her, though, and he sank into a chair.
With a bracing breath, she took a step away from him—deliberately separating, he thought, so she stood alone. She didn’t have the stage training he, Brody, Piper, or Tyler had, didn’t have Norah’s professional poise or Cam’s comfort with addressing crowds. But Corinne held their attention as she squared her shoulders and braced, as if for a firing squad.
“First off, I’d like to thank you for inviting me tonight. It means a lot to Tucker and to me. Now, maybe this isn’t the perfect time to bring all of this up, but I’m not sure there is a good time, and I think—hope—we’ll all be better for having cleared the air.”
Her hands knit together, the only outward sign of her agitation. “You’re all good, kind people. You opened up your circle to me simply because Tucker asked you to, even though I’m sure some of you don’t think I deserve it. I don’t think I deserve it.”
Tucker opened his mouth, but she laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“At least not the me I used to be. Norah, Myles, this really doesn’t impact you at all, as neither of you knew me until recently. But to the rest of you—I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies. I behaved badly in high school. Probably for longer than that. I won’t offer any reasons or excuses. Whatever they are don’t matter, and they don’t change that I said and did things to all of you, at one point or another, that were intended to hurt you. I hurt a lot of people back then. I’m not proud of it. Any of it. But I own that I was wrong. I’ve had a lot of years to reflect on that, and I carry around a lot of regrets, a lot of things I’d be ashamed to admit to my son.”
Her gaze skimmed over the table. “But that’s not who I am anymore. I’d like to think I’m a better person now, and I’m working on being the kind of person who’s worthy of Tucker’s good opinion, and yours. But that kind of thing takes time. Trust takes time to build. So if any of you needs to say anything to clear the air, now’s your chance. Because whether I deserve him or not, I’m with Tucker, and I will be as long as he’ll have me. So we might as well get it on out there so we can all move past it.”
She’d laid herself bare to them, stood quietly waiting for their attack or their judgment. It was one of the bravest damned things Tucker had ever seen. Pride shone through him like a beacon. He started to rise, to go to her, but a subtle shake of her head had him sinking back into his chair. She was determined to do this on her own, come hell or high water.
Tyler spoke first. “It takes a lot of guts to stand up and admit when you’re wrong. It takes more to strike out on your own as a single parent to make a life for yourself and your child. I, for one, accept your apology and say everything else is water under the bridge.”
Corinne angled her head in acknowledgment, murmuring a soft, “Thank you.”
Brody crossed his arms. “I’m fairly sure we’re close to even after you kicked my ass for fucking things up with Tyler again last year.”
That got Tucker’s attention. “She what?”
Corinne’s attention stayed on Brody—actually looked at him, instead of off to the side or at his feet. “I just gave him a needed dose of honesty at the right time.”