Page 51 of Dare to Need

We spent the rest of the morning talking about his new research project working with Alzheimer’s patients. I hardly understood a word he said, but I was so fucking proud of what he was doing and how he’d dedicated his life to helping others.

There was a smoldering ember that burned in my heart, and I felt it start to ignite. Joy took hold of my mind when I thought about having my own art studio and how great it would be to help guide the new generation of artists to find their own place in this world.

Hope was a fragile thing—easily snuffed out with the smallest moments of despair. But I let myself fan that ember of hope with desperate vigilance.

I have to make this work.

ChapterTwenty-One

EVA

“Thank you again for setting up this meeting. I hardly know anything about legal issues, except what I’ve seen onHow to Get Away with Murder.” I laughed nervously, wringing my hands under the small table that separated Mrs. Walker and me.

“That’s exactly why we have a lawyer on retainer. George and I have both dealt with a lot of legality issues over the course of our careers, but if there’s any advice I can give a young person it would be to always have a lawyer handle legal matters and neverevercheat the IRS. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how far your reach is, the IRS will always bring the hammer down.”

My eyes widened as I swallowed nervously.

Mrs. Walker gave me a warm smile as she said, “But there’s no need to worry about any of that now. Our lawyer will walk you through all the steps you need to take. He’ll make it fool proof, I promise.” She winked at me over her raised mug filled with steamed milk and hot espresso.

Forcing myself to stretch my hands wide, I tried to stamp out the tension gripping every muscle in my body. As I took a sip of my own vanilla latté, I focused on the warmth of the liquid sliding down my throat.Everything will be okay, I thought to myself over and over again.

“I spoke with Garth this morning before he and Garrett went off to breakfast. He seems to be doing a lot better now.”

“Yes,” I replied, setting my mug down. “I think it took him a little while to sort through everything he was feeling, but he definitely seems to have found his way again. Which I’m very thankful for. It was difficult seeing him suffer like that.”

“It always is,” she remarked. “It doesn’t help that he’s stubborn as a mule, just like his father. I’m thankful Garrett was always the softer of the three. More willing to compromise for the sake of getting along. But then again, he never had the same kind of pressure that was bestowed upon Garth. Sometimes, I wonder if Garth would have turned out differently if his father and I wouldn’t have pushed him so hard.” There was a pained curiosity in her tone—a glaring sense of regret in how she and Mr. Walker had pushed Garth, maybe far beyond his limits.

“I don’t have children, so I can’t begin to pretend just how difficult it would be to raise them. But I do know that my parents have made their fair share of mistakes as well and I still love them beyond measure. I think with any relationship, grace should be given as freely as possible. And I know that even though Garth struggled a lot growing up with those pressures, he still loves you both so so much.”

Her head tilted to the side as she tenderly wiped the growing moisture from her eyes. “I appreciate you saying that, darling. And I appreciateyoubeing willing to stick by his side through all of this. I know it hasn’t been an easy situation for you either and I’m so thankful for how much you love my son.”

I smiled at her through bleary eyes because that was the thing about love. It kept you wanting more even when it completely shattered you. When there was nothing but doubt in your mind, your heart screamed at you to give it one more chance. To fight for the person who made all those feelings possible, even when the world seemed to be crashing down around you.

Love was like the truest form of the color black—a combination of the entire emotional spectrum, enticing and dangerous, soft and harsh, gentle and bold. That was the love I had for Garth. I wanted to venture into the heavenly sunrises and the darkest of nights that life would offer us. Because a life without him would be a colorless void.

Mrs. Walker extended her arms across the table and took my hands in hers, rubbing the back of my hands with her thumbs. “I always feared that Garth would end up alone. That the wall he’d built around himself was too thick for anyone to break through. But I think it just took the right person to show him that it’s okay to love and be loved.”

She gave my hands a squeeze and that small gesture wrapped a warm blanket around my heart. “He’s needed you, Eva. I hope you see just how much you’ve changed his life.”

In that moment, all the muddied waters Garth and I had trudged through, leaving my world a bleary gray mess, was worth it. Because Mrs. Walker was right. I had changed Garth’s life. I’d helped him see just how worthy he was of having all the things that he wanted in this life.

And while last year might have been all about me learning to grow into myself, I finally realized that Garth had some growing of his own to do. He may have been the man I put on a pedestal, the savior of my own soul, but he was still human. And that meant he was a little fucked up in some ways, just like the rest of us.

This entire time, I was worried he was turning into someone else and that the man I fell so deeply in love with would be lost. But as I looked at the woman who raised him, her warm smile beaming at me despite all the heartache she’d just experienced, I knew that Garth was simply going through a trial. And that what Drema told me was true. He needed the space to be human and that our love would overcome all of this.

“We’ve changed each others’ lives,” I whispered, smiling back at her. “I think there are people who come into our lives for a season. Maybe to teach us a lesson or to show us something we’ve been missing. And then there are those who are meant to walk beside us forever. Garth is that person for me, Mrs. Walker. As long as he’ll have me, I couldn’t imagine having anyone else to go through life with.”

As her smile broadened, I felt a calmness lull over me just as it did all those months ago when I found a safe haven in Garth’s arms. It was beautiful, sharing that moment with his mother. Showing her the truth of what lay in my heart. It was a truth I may have known all along, buried beneath the spoils of doubt and fear. Now, it was uncovered, shining through the dust like the purest of diamonds ever forged.

“Am I interrupting something?” A deep voice, smooth as velvet rang over our table and Mrs. Walker and I both looked up with stunned faces from the quick break in the moment we’d just shared.

Releasing my hands, Mrs. Walker ran her fingertips under her eyes again and shook her head in quick bursts.

“Oh no, Melvin. Eva and I were just having a moment.” She glanced toward me with a wink. “Please, take a seat.” She cleared her throat and gestured toward the third chair sitting between us.

Melvin was a large man with broad shoulders that tapered down to his waist where the immaculate dark navy suit he wore was tailored to perfection. Thick black waves of hair were expertly gelled back and the sharp angles of his face made everything about him look more expensive. It didn’t hurt that he wore a Cartier watch that closely resembled the same one Connor’s father had worn—just another statement of his wealth for everyone to see.

Melvin’s presence alone made me sit up taller in my chair.

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