A Weston Wedding. Gray Gardner
again.
"Well, did you apologize?" she asked, folding her arms, and giving me a look that said I was an idiot.
"I plan on it. I just need her to acknowledge me."
"She's totally pissed," Blake said, still staring me down. "You hurt her."
I turned and grabbed her little shoulders. Christ, that wasn't what I wanted to hear.
"Is she okay?"
Blake rolled her eyes and shrugged my hands off her.
"Not like that, dumbass. You hurt her emotionally. You took her back to a place she'd made herself forget."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" I asked, my stomach sinking to the floor.
Blake licked her lips and scratched her ear as she looked at the floor, saying, "I'm not sure it's my place to tell you."
"Tell me," I demanded in my office voice. Stepping back, I took a breath and tried to control my emotions a little bit better. I'd fired people for less. I was an asshole.
Looking up, she pressed her lips together and sighed. "All right, but I'm only telling you so that you know where she's coming from and so that you don't do anything rash. Like West would."
"I plan on crawling to her on my hands and knees." I sighed, rubbing my eyes.
Nodding, she said, "Okay, so, you know that she's one of six kids."
No, I did not recall that.
"And her dad ran off, and her mom was a terrible alcoholic, and she was pretty overweight when she was younger."
Crap. I didn't know any of this. I kind of remembered her talking about her mom. Maybe. Shit, I was a bad boyfriend.
"So, she was the slowest kid in the house. And when her mom would go on a bender and look for something to let out her frustration, Chandler was always the one she caught."
"Jesus Christ," I choked, my skin prickling at the thought of my sweet little angel's mother hurting her.
"It's how she learned to lie so well," Blake softly said, looking down at her hands. "And when she was old enough to fight back, she knocked her mom down, who was so drunk that she threw up, choked on her own vomit, and subsequently suffered brain damage. She lives in a home now. Full time care and she's only fifty."
"That's so…" I couldn't even find the words.
"She likes you," Blake offered. "I think she loves you. Y'all have something really special but she is not going to be easy. Can you handle that?"
"I don't want to handle anything," I stated, looking down at Blake. I'd handled hundreds of employees and million-dollar deals, but all I wanted was for one damned thing to go right with Chandler. "And I don't care about easy. I just want to love her and take care of her."
"Good boy." Blake smiled, patting my arm. "Then go be a good man and win her back. And be honest. She can sniff out bullshit better than anyone I know. Tell her how you want it to be and let her tell you how she wants it."
"I can do that." I nodded, loving the advice. Dusty pulled up the truck next to the porch at that moment. "Thanks, Blake."
"I miss her, too." She absently rubbed her behind. I don't even think she knew she was doing it, which was really cute. Now I had to go and get my cute girl back.
I inhaled and walked out into the cool evening air. I had to be direct and honest. Not my original plan, but I trusted Blake. I wanted Chandler to know the real me and I wanted her to know that I loved the real her. No matter what our pasts might be.
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