Page 82 of Lost the Handle

“I bet,” he says slowly. “So, am I right to assume that what we all saw in the hall means the wedding is off?”

“It will be,” I say softly, and I feel a flush filling my features. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad’s head fall back and he thanks the heavens, but I ignore him. “I can’t marry her, not when I love Emery as deeply as I do.”

“I understand.” His voice is even, as if he expected this. Knew how it would play out.

Glad one of us did.

My voice shakes as I admit, “I shouldn’t have let her leave.”

He shrugs. “Sometimes you have to. I think there is even a song that says you gotta let them fly, and if they come back, it’s meant to be.”

I can’t help but snort. “Mariah Carey sang it. And that’s funny, ’cause Emery sang a very bad karaoke version of a Mariah Carey classic to me the other night.”

Dad grins. “That girl has always been someone you can’t ignore.”

“Yeah, even when I try my hardest.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “I understand what you did,” he tells me once our eyes meet. “I let your mom go, even though it was the last thing I wanted. I wore her engagement ring around my neck and waited for her to come back to me.” He chuckles, shaking his head. “Love isn’t easy, son. It’s a lot of give-and-take. A lot of patience and understanding. It’s hard, but when you find the person who makes it easy, you love them harder than you ever imagined you could. The reward is a life that you build with them.”

My lips quirk. “Emery has always been that person for me.”

Dad’s eyes sparkle with mischief. “I doubt you remember this, but when we went to the hospital to see Emery when she was born, I was holding her, and you came over and looked down at her. You moved her dark curls off her forehead and then touched her eyelashes.” I’m completely taken in by his words, sitting on the edge of my seat, listening intently as he reminisces.“Lucas watched you like a hawk, but I let you explore her face. You booped her nose, then her cheek, before you looked up at me and told me, ‘She’ll do.’”

I laugh, and I feel a smile take over my face. “She’ll do?”

Dad chuckles. “Yeah. I went, ‘She’ll do for what?’ And you told me, ‘She’ll do to be my friend.’” His laughter echoes throughout the arena as I grin widely at him. “You two were two peas in a pod, but it was Lucas who noticed how she started looking at you differently. I agreed and then said I noticed the same from you. I think it was right when you went to prom, with that one girl who Emery claims she didn’t trip, that things completely changed between you two.”

“She totally tripped her,” I huff out between chuckles.

“Oh, I know she did,” he laughs, shaking his head. “And now, here we are.”

“Here we are,” I agree. “She makes me happy, Dad.”

“I know, Quinn,” he says simply. “But what I want to know is why you got involved with Ava. Why did you propose to her?”

I forgot I’d said I did that. I press my lips together, looking away, ashamed. “I didn’t, Dad. Mom’s ring that you gave her when I was born is in a drawer in my place.” I can feel him staring at me. “I told her to tell everyone it didn’t fit and we were getting it resized, but that wasn’t the case.”

I don’t want to look at my dad, but I know I have to. When I do, I find him with his brows pulled in and confusion in his eyes. “What the hell is going on?”

It’s hard to breathe as I look out at the ice, but I know I have to tell him. “Emery leaving really fucked me up,” I admit quietly, my heart thundering in my chest. “I couldn’t focus on school. I wanted to drop out for a year, but Ava convinced me to stay in. Told me she’d help me, and since the world was shut down, it was easy to let her do everything for me.” I’m unable to look at him as I continue. “She got me through my classes, and thingswere fine. We were friends, I hung out with her and her partner, and we had fun.”

“Her partner?”

“Yeah. Yvette is her girlfriend.”

I feel his gaze, and when I look at him, he’s visibly shocked. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

I nod. “Her parents don’t approve and are holding her inheritance hostage if she doesn’t end things with Yvette. If she marries me, and we stay together for a year, then she gets her money and she can live the life she wants. With Yvette. She offered to get her uncle, Dr. Abrams, to take me in for my residency and even offered to pay me some of her money. I took her up on the offer with Dr. Abrams, obviously, but I declined the money because she’d helped me back when I needed it.”

I watch as he digests my words, his eyes searching mine. “Why didn’t you tell me or Mom you were struggling with school?”

“Because I shouldn’t have been. I was a pathetic mess. And instead of talking about it, I wallowed in self-pity and licked my wounds.”

“We could have talked about it.”

“Sure, but it wouldn’t have brought her back,” I counter, holding his gaze. “I’d already embarrassed myself. I didn’t want to embarrass you too.”

“Quinn, you were young. You should have let us help you.”

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