Page 119 of Theirs for the Holidays

Lennox looks down at the floor, but then back up at me, and when his eyes meet mine, I can see all the emotions there that we haven’t talked about. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I was.”

“I got… really fucking angry when you said you wanted to sell the company. It felt like you were giving up without even thinking about it or asking us what we wanted to do. I know that’s not fair now. I know you were just trying to protect us because if the company had failed on top of losing Mom…”

“It would have destroyed us,” he says quietly.

“Yeah.” I take a breath and let it out in a rush. “It would have felt like we’d lost everything.”

“I was just trying to keep that from happening. I didn’t think we could handle more loss, more pain. More disappointment. I thought if we sold the company, at least we would have the money as a safety net. No matter what else happened, we’d have that, and that would be enough to make sure we stayed together.” He snorts, and there’s bitterness in it. “So much for that, right?”

“I’m sorry. For my part in it. For not asking your reasoning and just flying off the handle about it. And for letting it go this long and this far without ever trying to see things from your perspective.”

“I’m sorry too,” Lennox murmurs back. “I should have explained all that and not let the pressure get to me. Some ofit was definitely self-imposed, and then I tried to blame you two for the way I was feeling. That wasn’t fair. But thank you, Sawyer, for saying something now.”

“Sure,” I reply. “It seemed like a good time, since you were in a good mood and all. I think you’re finally learning that you don’t have to hold everything together for everyone all the time. You’re even letting people help you without being mad about it.” I waggle my eyebrows at him, and he laughs, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do. Violet’s been a good influence on you. It’s nice to see, if I’m being honest.”

Instead of arguing or denying it, Lennox just smiles. It’s the warmest look I’ve seen on his face in a while. “I’d say she’s been a good influence on you too. You haven’t looked like you wanted to run away since we got here.”

He doesn’t say it all barbed, the way he and Rhett usually bring up my habits, and nothing about it sets my hackles up.

Before I can respond though, Rhett and Violet come back into the room.

“Are you two ready?” Violet asks, setting her hands on her hips. “I’m wasting away over here.”

“We can’t have that,” I tease, scooping her up in my arms.

“Sawyer!” she screeches, laughing and putting her arms around my neck. “I can walk!”

“Oh, but we didn’t go easy on you last night, Peaches. And you’resohungry now. I wouldn’t want you to faint on the way to the car.”

She laughs and clings to me, and my brothers bring up the rear as we head outside to pile into Rhett’s jeep.

The drive to the diner is quick, and I have to admit that it’s nice being with my brothers when we’re not all tense and ready to snap at a moment’s notice. Things have been thawing betweenus since we all finally got everything we wanted to say to each other off our chests, but there’s still work to do.

At least it feels like it won’t be thankless or impossible to do that work. My conversation with Lennox proves that.

We park downtown and get out of the car, stepping over piles of slushy, dirty snow.

“I’ll be so glad when winter is over,” Violet says with a sigh. “I love the holidays, but the dirty snow everywhere really puts a damper on things.”

“We’ll get you some French toast, and that will lift your spirits,” Lennox replies.

She brightens at the prospect, making the rest of us laugh.

As we head from the parking lot across the street, there’s the sound of screeching tires from just up ahead. My head snaps up just in time to see someone in a bright blue car losing control and skidding on a patch of black ice in the road.

We try to hurry out of the way, but the car is barreling straight toward us. My heart lurches in my chest at the sight, and my mouth opens to shout at everyone to move, but before I do anything, Rhett is moving in front of all of us.

He shoves Violet to the side, pushing her up onto the snow-covered grass on the other side of the road. Lennox and I are too big to move like that, and not close enough on top of that, but he stays in front of us.

The car doesn’t stop, and it crashes right into Rhett.

38

VIOLET