“You’ve spent your entire life believing one version of the truth . . . Have you ever looked at things from your mother’s point of view?”

Liv reared back. “Why?”

Because backstory is everything. “Just trying to think about things from her perspective.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure she deserves that.”

“Maybe not, but automatically hating her for the decisions she made hasn’t exactly worked for me. Or for you. Has it?”

Liv stood. “Don’t go kicking over logs if you’re not prepared for what comes crawling out.”

Thea laughed. “Gran Gran.” Liv and Thea had heard that phrase perhaps more than any other. A philosophy for life that Thea had completely misunderstood. The point wasn’t to fear the ugly crawly things. The point was to be strong enough to face them.

“I’m a coward, Liv.”

Her sister did her usual what nonsense are you spouting smirk. “You? A coward? You’re the strongest person I know.”

“No. I’m not. Gavin was right about me. I’m a coward.”

“Don’t, Thea.”

“I have to. Do you know what caused our breakup?”

Liv blinked, wary.

“I was faking it in bed. He found out, and he was hurt. He handled it badly, but so did I. I wasn’t fair to him—”

“You’ve been more than fair.”

“Have I really, though? I faked everything with him, and it’s not because of anything he did. It’s because I’m broken, Liv. I’m scared to open up to him, really open up to him. And now he’s gone. Again.”

He was right. Backstory was everything. The faked orgasms. The unwillingness to say she loved him. Her reaction to the books, to believe the worst about him. They were all part of the same twisted knot of issues that she’d never dealt with. Her parents had left her unable to trust. And it was costing her the man she loved.

She loved him. So much.

He hadn’t left her.

She’d pushed him away.

Thea turned around and embraced her sister. “Thank you for being here.”

Liv squeezed. “Yeah, yeah. You and me, always.”

Thea pulled back and smoothed her hair off her forehead. “Liv, I know I’ve relied on you a lot, but do you think you could stay here this weekend with the girls?”

Liv grinned. “Are you going to New York to see Gavin?”

“No. I’m going to Dad’s wedding.”

* * *

• • •

Gavin barely made his flight on time. Del, Yan, and the other Legends players who were part of the photo shoot were already in their seats in first class when he dragged his bag and his ass on board. As he shoved his luggage and coat into the overhead bin, Del watched with one of his silently seething death glares that were so intimidating on the field.

Gavin glared back and sank into the open seat next to him. Then he closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and hoped Del got the message that he was in no mood for another round of you fucking idiot.

“You fucking idiot.”

“I d-d-did what I had to, Del.”

“How could you think leaving her was a good idea?”

Gavin opened his eyes and glowered. “I didn’t think it was a good idea. It fucking sucks. I’m dying here. Bleeding out of my chest—”

Gavin’s phone buzzed, and he scrambled to dig it out of his jeans pocket. Please be Thea. Please be Thea.

It was Liv. Mother-fobbing bugbear!

“Answer it, idiot,” Del said.

He swiped the screen. Liv didn’t bother with hello. “I just thought you should know that she’s going to need you.”

Gavin sat up straight, heart pounding as he imagined the worst. “What happened? Is it one of the girls?”

“She’s on her way to Atlanta.”

He searched the fog of his brain for the significance of that. Then, “She’s going to the wedding?”

“I don’t know what the hell is going on, but she tore out of here like it was the most important thing in the world to her.”

“Backstory.”

“What?”

“She’s doing it. She’s digging into it.”

“Am I supposed to know what any of that means?”

“Thank you for telling me, Liv. You have no idea how important this is.”

She paused and softened her voice. “Just make sure she’s OK.”

Liv hung up. Gavin sat in motionless indecision for a split second before he shot to his feet. He whacked his head on the overhead bin and swore out loud. “Urchin-snouted codpiece!”

Rubbing his head, he ducked out of his row. A flight attendant told him he needed to take his seat because the outer door was about to close.

Del leaned over. “Dude, what are you doing?”

“I have to get off the plane.” He opened the bin and grabbed his shit.

The flight attendant approached, hands raised. “Sir, I really need you to sit.”

“I can’t. You have to let me off. I have to . . . I have an emergency.”

“I have to get off too.” Del suddenly stood.

Followed by Yan. “Yo también.”

“Gentleman, please—”

“Listen, we have an emergency here,” Del barked.

“Is someone ill?”

People were staring now. Another flight attendant was making her way up the aisle.

Del grabbed Gavin’s arm and grinned. “Grand gesture time?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gavin turned back to the flight attendant and conjured his sternest game face. “Let me off this plane. I have to go marry my wife.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

A line of vintage Rolls-Royces parked in front of the soaring stone cathedral was the best indication that Thea was in the right place. Her father never did anything halfway. Well, except marriage. Her father had been half-assing marriage forever. But the weddings? He spared no expense for those.

Thea had driven the entire four hours to Atlanta this morning. She started and stopped to call Gavin no less than a dozen times on the way. She didn’t even know if he would answer, and even if he did, she wasn’t actually ready to talk to him.

By some miracle, she arrived early enough that she landed a prime parking spot on the opposite side of the church that would let her flee in a hurry, if necessary. The bad news was, now she had to sit there with just her thoughts for way too long.

Thea closed her eyes and leaned her head against the seat. God, what was she doing there? Of all the stupid, impulsive things to do. What was this going to accomplish? It wasn’t fair to confront her father on his wedding day, and she had no desire to ruin his fiancée’s big day. Poor woman had enough hurt coming her way eventually, anyway.

But she’d come all this way, and she needed to get through this. Because Gavin was right. She’d been running and hiding from her own backstory for too long, and her father played a starring role in it.

Thea jumped at the sound of a knock on her window. Her eyes flew open to find—oh, crap. Her father peered in at her. In his charcoal gray tuxedo and with his salt-and-pepper hair, he looked more like the father of the bride than the groom.

Thea lowered the window, which seemed to amuse him. “You ever going to come in, or are you going to watch the whole wedding from out here?”

“How’d you know I was here?”

He pointed to an upper level of the church. “Window.”

“You recognized me from all the way over there?”

“I recognize my daughter, yes.”

The word daughter stung like a sharp needle. She knew this man so little that even calling him Dad made her squirm. But he could just blurt out “my daughter”?

“I didn’t think you were coming,” he said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t eat anything.”

“Don’t be mulish, Thea. The wedding planner is already working to seat you with Jessica’s parents.”

“With her parents?” Thea reared back. “Oh, no. That’s not, please don’t. That’s like, way too up front.”

Her father straightened and tipped his chin toward the passenger seat. “Can I get in?”

“Don’t you have groom things to do?”

“I’ve done this a few times. I know what my job is.”

“That probably sounds funny to you, but it’s actually pretty gross.”

He gestured to the seat again. “May I?”

Thea hit the unlock button and watched him walk around the front of her car. Someone must have called his name, because he lifted his hand in greeting before continuing to the passenger door.

Silence screamed as he slid in. Sitting in a car with someone was one of those everyday acts of familiarity that could either be unremarkably mundane or incredibly awkward. This was awkward. The comfort that most people felt around their dads didn’t exist for Thea. The man next to her had never tucked her in at night, never kissed scrapes and boo-boos, had never lifted her high into bed and snuggled her while she slept. She’d never crawled into his lap for comfort, never made pancakes with him. He was a stranger. Like a distant uncle who you saw every five years at family reunions and whose only point of conversation was to say over and over again how tall you’d gotten.

Yet, somehow, this stranger’s behavior had left enough emotional scars that Thea was going to lose the man she loved. A man who loved her enough that he read, underlined, and quoted romance novels to win her back.

The scars of this stranger in her car now had made her so distrustful that she couldn’t see Gavin’s efforts for what they were—a beautiful, heartfelt, honest statement of his feelings.

“Gavin and the girls aren’t with you?” Dan finally asked.

“No. Just me.”

“Liv?”

“Sorry.”

“Well, I’m glad you came. What changed your mind?”

“I’m kicking over some logs.”