Page 15 of Forever to Fall
With a scoff, he said, “Mal doesn’t have a boyfriend. I haven’t seen her with a guy since that last online dating disaster.”
White-hot rage surged through Beckett as his heart pounded. Granted he didn’t want Mallory to date anyone, but experiencing a toxic relationship was far worse. “What did he do?” His tone was so stern, Evan looked up and blinked at his stormy expression.
“Calm down, Foxy. He was just a tool she met online. They went on like two dates until she found out he was married.”
Beckett ran a hand down his face, bumping his glasses from his nose. Quickly adjusting them, he asked, “And did you rip the guy limb from limb?”
Evan snorted. “I did my part, but so did her bestie Alice. When Mal told Alice, I’m pretty sure the guy needed to leave Ohio and change his name. If that guy is still married, his wife took at least one of his balls. Mal and Alice got the other.”
Shoulders slumping, Beckett relaxed. “Good, I’m glad she’s got friends like that.” He meant it, but he also wished that was still his job—running the bad guys out of her life. The trouble was, Beckettwasthe bad guy. He’d been careless and lied about his feelings for Mallory. It was an error he’d been beating himself over for two years now, and he needed to figure out a way to move past it.
Sitting here with Evan, laughing and messing around like old times, felt one step closer to his old self. Beckett didn’t have anyone left, and he couldn’t lose his friendship with Evan any more than he could lose his relationship with Mallory. Beckett had to figure out this emotional house of cards before it all fell apart.
CHAPTER 5
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There was no pointdenying it. Beckett had turned into a romcom cliché. He could not sleep, not one wink. He wanted to blame the pizza, Oreos, and his slowing metabolism, but they were not the culprit. The issue was the 500-pound elephant threatening to crush him. He needed to clear the air with Mallory about the last time they saw each other. If Evan hadn’t interrupted their impromptu dinner, he would have spilled his guts and given Mallory the apology of all apologies.
The trouble was, words wouldn’t be enough. Beckett toyed with the notion of Googlinghow to fix a mess you made two years ago that included ghosting your dearest friend. He was ninety-nine percent certain there wouldn’t be results, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t tempted to try. He couldn’t be the only idiot man out there, right?
Two years ago, Beckett was in the midst of grieving the passing of Gram. She’d suffered a heart attack on the farm while picking apples. Despite getting her to the hospital in time, she never fully recovered from the incident. Her heart had been weakened, and there was nothing anyone could do. For a month, Beckett watched Gramps mourn the impending loss of his other half. It gutted Beckett more than he would admit to anyone.
Everyone shared platitudes of their sympathy.
She lived a full life.
No one was more loved than Gram.
At least she’s in a better place.
Beckett wanted to riot against everyone. He couldn’t believe that no one understood how she still had a full life to live; still had people who loved her and needed her. Extended family and neighbors didn’t realize that Beckett’s world, his short list of loved ones, was down twenty-five percent. Well, no one except Evan and Mallory. The Lawson siblings were there for the entire ordeal. They understood what he lost.
Gram was more than a grandparent. She was basically Beckett’s mother. When the divorce was final, his mom retreated more and more from his life. He was never invited to New England, never saw her at the holidays. The monthly phone calls turned to annual birthday cards, then dwindled to sporadic texts wishing him a happy birthday a month too late. The half siblings that rambled around the Boston area were strangers to him, yet Beckett couldn’t bring himself to miss people he’d never met.
At the time, it didn’t bother him too much because Gram always spoiled him. Nothing from his parents? Don’t worry, there was a three-tier birthday cake covered in marzipan baseballs waiting in the kitchen. Parents forgot his high school graduation? That was fine, because he was off to a resort in the Smoky Mountains with his grandparents. Beckett could fill a book with the times his grandparents stepped up, and he was eternally grateful.
