Page 38 of Winning Brynn

Well, color me amazed.

Leo Sullivan apologizing for being a dick? Did my brother punch him or something?

I look around at the sky dramatically, Leo's puzzled gaze following me as I do. "Sorry, I was just looking for flying pigs."

He doesn’t look amused. "Brynn, I'm being serious."

"I know. And I appreciate it. I do." I smile genuinely. "But can I ask? Would it have mattered if I was? Shopping, or shooting content, or doing any of the things I do that you deem unnecessary and frivolous? It's just…you told me you didn't need me today, so I made plans. And then when yours changed, you threw a temper tantrum because I didn't immediately drop what I was doing and come running. It's kind of like you just consider everything I do to be unimportant. Pointless even."

His eyes drop to his lap. A sorrowful mix of sadness and guilt mars his perfect face, and though I feel somewhat victorious that he's admitting he's in the wrong, I don't like the way his expression makes my heart constrict. He's an asshole, sure, but I don't want him to be sad.

That said, I won't be going easy on him.

No, sir.

He rubs a hand down his face. Scratches his neck. Sighs. "No," he admits quietly. "No, I guess it wouldn't have mattered."

"Because my time is mine to use however I want to, right?"

"Right." He nods.

"And just because our lives look different, that doesn't make mine inferior to yours."

"Right," he repeats. Nods again.

"And my career isn't something to look down on just because you don't understand it." I let that one hang there for a while before punctuating with, "Right?" again.

"Yeah," he responds gruffly then clears his throat. "Yeah."

"Yeah?" I prompt, wanting him to think for himself, to say something of worth that isn't just repeating everything I say.

"I mean, I kick a ball for a living, so I don't really have a leg to stand on." He says it with a hint of a smile on his lips, his eyes crinkling at the sides with both amusement and hope. And it takes everything in me not to smile right back. "But yeah, you're right. About everything. I've been an arsehole, and I'm sorry."

"You could have asked my brother as well, you know? He wasn't doing anything today and could have watched Say. I'm assuming that's where she is now?"

His brow creases again. "I didn't think about that."

"And therein lies the problem. You didn't even think about your other options before jumping down my throat, when I don’t even work weekends anyway." I'm not trying to make him feel worse. I just need him to realize his attitude toward me isn't okay. "Any other day, I would have jumped to spend more time with Say. It's just that there's this girl here. She can be a bit of a menace sometimes because of all the shit she's been through in her little life, and her latest foster family didn't wanna deal with her anymore, so they dropped her back here this morning. Anyway, we've got this kind of connection that she doesn't have with anyone else. I wish I could adopt her, actually, but I'm not in a stable enough position to do so right now. And she was crying for me, so I came. I had to. I couldn't leave her in the state she was in."

My eyes tear up as I think about how distraught Ivy was. All she wants is to be loved. She just doesn't know how to deal with all the wild emotions that storm away inside of her.

Leo, to his credit, looks positively shattered by my words.

"I didn't know," he whispers. "I never would have... If I knew, I wouldn't have..."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"You've said that already."

"Yeah, well, I mean it."

I let him stew in silence for a while—simply because I get a weird, sadistic sort of pleasure from watching a man of Leo's size squirm like a child who's been sent to the principal’s office—until, finally, I take pity on him and slip him a small smile to let him know that, for now, he's forgiven. And his entire face lights up at the sight of it, his shoulders deflating with relief.

I don't tell him it's okay, because it's not. An apology is a great starting place, but it means nothing without demonstrable action.

So I let my smile speak for itself. Temporary forgiveness. Easily retractable.

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