Page 62 of Wanting You

He was only partially kidding.

“Nah. Ronan couldn’t hurt a fly,” Reid explained. “But you should know that this is all kind of new to them—having him in their lives like this. Honestly, I think Chloe and Levi were the most forgiving and have really welcomed him back with open arms. Ashlynn put up a good fight for a little while, but then she got furious with Marie. They all were upset with her, but my girl can really hold a grudge.”

“Wow.”

“And Billie’s been the most forgiving of Marie, not so much with Ronan, but I can tell she's warming up to him. She’s the oldest, so I think his leaving hit her the hardest.”

All he could do was nod. It was a lot of information to take in.

“Ash and Chloe blamed themselves for Ronan leaving.”

“Seriously? Why?”

“Because they felt like they were the reason their father left. Both of them have some abandonment issues. Ashlynn was a bit hard to pin down when we started dating. She was defensive and standoffish one minute and then the next…?” He shrugged. “And I think Chloe tends to hold on to people that she shouldn’t because she doesn’t want them to leave.”

Tanner stiffened. “Are you trying to say…?”

“What?” Reid asked and then laughed softly. “No. Sorry. I wasn’t talking about you at all. It’s something Ash has shared with me and I’ve noticed that sometimes she takes the scraps of attention friends or colleagues may give her because she doesn’t want to do anything to push them away.” He paused and grinned at Tanner. “Honestly, seeing the two of you together has been a really good thing. She looks happy and seems a little more confident in herself. A few months ago, she never would have chimed into that conversation with anything more than a plea to do more to help. It was cool to see her have an opinion of her own.”

“Oh, well then…that’s definitely a good thing.”

“Just know this,” Reid said, some of the friendliness gone from his tone. “The Donovans are tight now, but some of that is fresh. However, they are fiercely protective of each other. And Ash has been known to threaten more than a few people who have hurt Chloe. So just a bit of advice, don’t cross her. Ashlynn, I mean. Because she can be a little scary when she wants to be, and since she and Chloe are twins—and she’s the older by like three minutes—she’s especially protective of her.”

He nodded. “Good to know. And for what it’s worth, I have no intention of crossing Ashlynn or hurting Chloe.”

And because he didn’t have anyone else to talk to about this, he figured he might as well confide in Reid.

“I’m crazy about Chloe,” he said. “I didn’t see this coming, and we had a really shitty first meeting, but that was solely on me. I came here with the intention of beating her at the Teacher of the Year award. And the fact that it was Chloe didn’t faze me in the beginning. Then I got to know her.”

Raking a hand through his hair, he wasn’t sure how much he should share, but his mouth wasn’t waiting for permission.

“We had a…a thing last week because she felt like I was outshining her. I didn’t share with her the things I was doing with my class because they were very different from what she was doing, but that’s more because of my teaching style than anything else. I needed to make this position my own. I’ve been waiting a long time to get started, so…”

“There’s nothing wrong with being your own teacher, Tanner. She can’t fault you for that.”

“But…she did. And I have some guilt because of…you know…the way I was when I first got here. Ever since we talked it through, I’ve had to keep asking myself if I’m doing this because it’s my teaching style or if it’s the competitive part of me still looking to be the Teacher of the Year. Even when the person I’d be beating is the woman I’m involved with.”

“Damn.”

“I know.”

“And what conclusion have you come to?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. The thing is, this is who I am. I’m competitive! It’s something I’m working on to try to curb it a bit, but I don’t want to hurt Chloe. You have to believe me.”

“I do,” Reid told him. “But it sounds like if this relationship is going to go anywhere, she has to accept that part of you—the competitive guy—and you need to accept that maybe that guy already had his days of glory.”

“Yeah, but…not in this field.”

“You don’t need to be the best in every field. You know what, I’m a great firefighter. I’ve received a ton of commendations and I have the respect of my peers. It’s awesome. On the side, I work in construction and I’m not so great at it. I’m the guy who goes in and does the demo—you know, tearing down walls and ripping out cabinets. And you know what? I love both jobs! I’m not looking to be the best; I’m just happy to be there doing the work to help the rest of the contractors.”

“O-kay…”

“Look, you can be great at your job and still not be…well…Teacher of the Year. It doesn’t mean you did anything wrong. And you have no idea how much that title means to Chloe.”

But…he did.

Dammit.

---