“Ifyou go pro.” I tease and he tackles me around the neck.
“The main thing is we stick together and make sure we support one another,” Dad says, taking our glasses and glaring down at his white fancy wool rug. “I know that’s what your mom would want.”
Always.
That’s what Montgomery’s do.
Levi slaps my back and gives Dad a hug. Then he says farewell and heads out the door. He’ll be going straight to the gym. I would put money on him making a team next year.
When I hover around Dad looks up.
“Everything all right?”
I nod, and plonk down on the sofa. He sits in his armchair and waits.
“How did you know Mom was the one?” I ask.
“Is this about Harlow?” I can hear the hope in his voice.
“Dad.” I shake my head. “Harlow isn’t the one.”
He smiles. “How do you know?”
“I just...”
The smart fucker.
He lays his foot over his knee. “You’ll know, Atlas. Don’t be in a hurry just because Knox has married Payton. It can happen at any age. Now, ten years. Thirty years.”
Thirty?
I don’t want to wait that long.
But that’s not why I asked. All night I tossed and turned, not about the award which meant every damn thing to me. I was thinking about Molly.
Worried about her.
Angry at her.
Needing her in my arms as she had been the night before and the one before that. It feels like she belongs there.
Now, there’s a hole. One with her name on it and I fucking hate it.
I need to know if she’s okay. I need to know if there has been a miscommunication and if she’ll talk to me.
I want to know if she chose Greg.
I just need to goddamn know.
“Let’s say, theoretically, I think I might know, and she’s slipped away. Then what would I do?” I ask, feeling like I’m a child again.
“Fight,” Ward says. “You fight for her. Whatever that fight is.”
I glance toward the large floor to ceiling windows and out into the vast yard where enormous trees line the property.
This was my home—it still is my home—and one day I will get married here. I’ve always been more of a homebody than my other siblings.
Even Bella.