Page 80 of The Fear of Falling
My brother gets close enough to step out of the path of his headlights and throw his face into sharp relief. His eyebrows are low, eyes taking in the two of us and Avery’s car as he tries to understand why I’m here. “You’re in Utah?”
Avery lets out a little gasp, her fingers pinching my side as she likely remembers I haven’t just avoided talking about my family. I’ve avoided talkingtothem.
I clear my throat. “Uh, yeah. I’m doing a consultation with a company in Riverton.”
Kimball’s gaze shifts to the way I’m holding Avery tight against my side, and his eyes narrow. “How long have you been in town?”
“Not long.”
“Hey, I’m Kimball West.” He holds a hand out to Avery, who takes it with hesitation. “And you are…?”
“Avery,” she says with a glance at me. She’s likely wondering how much I want her to say, but I have no idea how toproceed. Seeing my brother has left me reeling and dizzy, almost panicking as I desperately search for a way to get out of this situation before it gets worse.
“Avery,” Kimball repeats, meeting my eyes. “How do you know my brother?”
Again, she looks at me, but when I give her nothing but a wide-eyed stare, she stands up straighter and turns into the confident woman I admire. “It’s my company he’s been helping.”
“Beenhelping,” Kimball parrots and turns a judgmental glare to me. He’s too smart to think I’ve only been here for a day or two.
I clench my jaw. “I’ve been busy.”
“You’re always busy.”
“Thanks for stopping, but we need to get the car towed and—”
“It’s almost midnight.” Kimball folds his arms and looks at the open engine. “How about I take you back to Mom and Dad’s while you figure this out. You can stay the night there and deal with this in the morning.”
Now I’mdefinitelypanicking. “No, we’re—”
“That’s so nice of you!” Avery interrupts with a tired smile. “But we can get an Uber or something. I don’t want to make you go out of your way.”
Kimball chuckles. “It’s only a block that way,” he says and gestures with his head.
Avery’s jaw drops, and though I feel her eyes on me, I refuse to look at her. Yeah, my parents live only ten minutes from her grandma. Yeah, I made her think they were still in Logan, an hour and a half away. Yeah, I’m turning into more and more of a jerk as the night goes on. If we’re about to go to my parents’ house, there’s no way I’ll be able to make myself look good.
“I don’t want to wake them,” I mumble, knowing it’s a terrible reason to make Avery stay outside on a dark road while we wait for a tow truck we might not be able to get. Icouldorder arideshare, but one look at Avery tells me she’s more tired than she’ll admit. She looks dead on her feet and is probably stressed out by her car breaking down.
My stomach starts twisting in a knot as I run through our options for the night.
“They’re still awake,” Kimball says, rolling his eyes at me. “You know Mom and Dad are night owls.” He looks at Avery and offers a warm smile. “It won’t be an imposition at all. I was just there after dropping off my kids for a sleepover earlier.”
I swear under my breath, ignoring the sharp glare my brother gives me. His kids are there? It’ll be hard enough facing my mom, and I don’t need my nieces and nephew gaping at me like some circus sideshow they’ve only heard stories about. I can only hope they’re already asleep.
But I can’t keep Avery out later than she needs to be, and my parents will have a guest bed she can use.
Another curse slips off my tongue as I realize I’m not going to be able to avoid my family tonight.
Kimball lifts an eyebrow. “McKay and Emily are there too.”
I swallow. This keeps getting worse.
Avery slides her hand into mine, and I’m surprised to see empathy in her expression, as if she knows exactly how hard this is going to be for me. Maybe she does. She just faced the bulk of her family for the first time after calling off her wedding. But Avery’s family? They’re great. They welcomed her with open arms and have always been supportive of her.
Mine is a whole different story.
“We don’t have to go, Bens,” she says gently. “I’m fine to wait for a car.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Sonny,” Kimball counters. “You and Avery shouldn’t be out here this late, and we both know Mom won’t see you for months if you don’t come over now.”
