Page 81 of Rhett

His frown deepens. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s impossible for me not to do that.”

“It’ll be okay, Rhett,” he says, and I look down to see he’s folding a paper butterfly. When he finishes, he holds it out for me.

“I…thank you.”

“Should we go inside? Or should I see if my therapist and Morgan will meet us in your truck?”

I can’t help but snicker. “Asshole.”

“It’s why you love me.” He shrugs, then opens the door.

“I do. Love you. I haven’t always been good at showing you, and I never told you enough.”

“I think you showed it in ways I didn’t allow myself to see at the time. I think you showed it to Morgan in ways he didn’t see either. And now we’re here, confronting it all. Let’s save the emotional stuff for inside, yeah?”

I chuckle. “Yeah. You’re right.”

We get out of the truck and head for the door. Just as we get there, Morgan approaches.

“Did I miss a Swift brothers pre-game meet-up?” he teases.

“No,” East says. “I found Rhett hiding in his truck.”

“I wasn’thiding,” I reply, but really, I kind of was.

“This is fun. We get to banter now. I’m liking it.” Morgan pulls open the door, and East walks in, then me. We check in at the reception desk, then have a seat in the waiting room.

Before I know it, a woman comes out to get us. “Hi,” she says, then once we’re in the room, continues, “I’m Amelia.” She holds out her hand.

“Rhett,” I answer.

To Morgan, she says, “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too.”

From what I understand, she’s not the therapist East worked with in his inpatient program, but she must be good, since he’s still working with her.

The room we’re in is bigger than the one I’m used to with Talia but decorated in similar ways.

“Thanks for coming. East has been doing a lot of hard work the past few months. We talked, and he thought it would be a good idea for all of you to come.”

It was East’s idea? I’m pretty sure before he made it sound like it was hers. I clear my throat. “I agree. I want…I want us to heal. I want to be the brother they deserve.”

“You don’t think you are?” Morgan asks, the focus already on me.

“I didn’t mean to make this about myself. That’s not why we’re here.”

“All of it is why we’re here,” East says. “I want to hear what you have to say. Is this like how we all blamed ourselves for Ella?”

“Yes and no.” I run a hand through my hair. “I should have protected you, both of you, from him. Sometimes I tried, attempted to get him to focus on me, but it wasn’t enough.”

“That’s what you were doing?” Morgan asks. “I thought you just chose him, loved him more than us.”

It makes my heart ache to hear him say that, to know how far apart we ended up. “I’m not a martyr. Sometimes I did it all for me. I needed his approval, needed his love so much because I didn’t know who I was without being exactly who Dad wanted me to be. Sometimes I did it for selfish reasons, and sometimes because I didn’t want the two of you to turn out like me.” I fidget in my seat, wring my hands. “I never loved him more than the two of you. I loved him more than me.”

“Jesus, Rhett,” Morgan says. “I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t…” He shakes his head.

---