Ginny didn’t hear her as she approached, and Brittany wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wasn’t sure about anything at the moment—not what she wanted to say or why she was here—she only knew it was time. Time to stop ignoring each other and talk.
“Hey,” she said when she drew close.
Startled, Ginny looked up and blinked damp lashes in the fading light. “Brittany. What...?” Her gaze skipped past Brittany, searching for the rest of the group she’d seen, Brittany realized.
“I’m alone.” Brittany glanced down at the grass. “Mind if I sit?”
“Um. I guess.”
Brittany sank to the grass and folded her legs in front of her. As Ginny watched her with confusion and unease, Brittany’s nerves kicked in. Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure what to say. Biting her lip, she glanced up at the oak above them. “Remember all the times we sat in this park under these trees?”
“Yeah.”
Silence hung between them. Brittany cleared her throat. “Speaking of trees, did you hear that Lacey wants to put a bench under the Storm Oak? She’s starting a fundraising campaign to have one built in his honor.”
“I know. That’s really great of her.”
Yeah, it really was. Especially considering how off-kilter Lacey had been acting the last few months. Brittany knew a lot of that acting out had been a result of losing her brother. But Lacey was really pulling it together. Even Jeffry had told Brittany how impressed he was by Lacey’s maturity lately. People reacted to tragedy in very different ways. As Brittany looked back at her friend, she knew that wasn’t an excuse for any of the things Ginny had done—especially regarding her affair with Brittany’s father—but the lies after Jacob’s death...could Brittany really blame her for those?
“Are you okay?” Brittany asked.
“Me? Yeah, I’m fine.” Ginny swiped at her cheeks and tried to put on a tough-girl face, but Brittany knew her too well to buy it.
“I’m not,” Brittany said with a sigh, figuring honesty was the only way to go at this point.
Ginny turned concerned eyes her way. “I heard about your parents. I’m sorry. I hope...” She swallowed hard. “I hope that wasn’t about me.”
“It wasn’t.”
Ginny nodded and looked down at her hands, and the awkward silence settled between them once more. One Brittany didn’t know how to bridge. She thought about getting up, about leaving, but she hadn’t come here just to walk away. She pulled up her courage and decided if there was ever a time to lay it all on the line, now was that time.
“So I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to understand or forget what you did with...my dad.” She closed her eyes because just saying the words brought up images she didn’t want to see. “I mean, my dad. Ew. I get that some women think he’s attractive but...he’s my dad.”
“I know,” Ginny said in a quiet voice laced with guilt. “And I don’t have any kind of explanation except that I was vulnerable and stupid and not thinking.”
“Yeah.” Brittany’s eyes shot open with a mixture of disgust and anger she couldn’t hold back. “You were.” But just as quickly as the anger hit, she looked at Ginny and realized being vindictive wasn’t going to change anything. All it would do was make them both continue to feel awful.
Brittany sighed. “But I also know that it takes two to do...what you did, and I know my father isn’t innocent. I’ve seen him with girls our age before. I know how he is. If you were feeling vulnerable like you said, he would have used that to his advantage.”
Ginny blinked several times and looked back down at her hands. And even though it was none of Brittany’s business, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “What were you feeling vulnerable about? Was it Jacob?”
Ginny released a sound that was half groan, half laugh and closed her eyes as she ran a hand through her hair. “About the fact I’d been in love with him forever and he had no idea? Yeah, you could say that.” She sighed. “I know it doesn’t mean much now, but if I could go back and change what I did, I would. It was the biggest regret of my life, and not just because of what people think of me now but because of the way I hurt you.” She looked up at Brittany, and tears shimmered in her eyes when she said, “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
Brittany’s heart contracted, and she wanted to reach out and hug her friend, but she wasn’t sure if she could. Or even if she should. “I know.”
Blinking quickly, Ginny looked back down at her hands.
Long seconds passed in silence, and Brittany knew it was still none of her business, but she had to ask. “Did you and Jacob really sleep together?”
Ginny lifted a shaky hand and swiped at her cheeks with a nod. “After the Turbo Fruit concert. It just happened the one time, and after, I was afraid he wasn’t in love with me the way I was in love with him, but...that one night was perfect. He made me feel special. Like all the stuff I’d done wrong didn’t matter. That the only thing that mattered was...us.”
Brittany studied Ginny, and in the dim light, she saw truth in Ginny’s expression. The rest of her anger slowly seeped out of her.
“What are you going to do if this baby isn’t Jacob’s?” Brittany asked softly.
Ginny drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know.”
“Now that my parents have split, my dad won’t have much to lose by admitting to the affair. If he can use your baby politically, he will.”
Ginny drew another deep breath and lifted her gaze to Brittany’s. “I know,” she said softly.
“What will you do if he does that? What if he tries to get custody?”
Ginny placed a protective hand on her belly. “Then I’ll fight him.”
The resolve Brittany heard in Ginny’s voice echoed around her. “And that doesn’t scare you?”
“It scares the hell out of me. But there’s nothing I can do about it right now.” She smoothed a hand down her round belly. “All I can do is continue to pray that this baby is Jacob’s.”
“So will I.”
Ginny held Brittany’s gaze for several seconds, and emotions swirled in her eyes—regret, heartache, but mostly sadness. A sadness Brittany felt all the way in her own heart.
When Ginny looked down at her belly, that pressure in Brittany’s chest intensified all over again. “Look, Ginny,” she said, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand why things happened the way they did but I do know that you’re not the only one who made mistakes. I made mistakes, too.”
“What kind of mistakes?” Ginny’s head came up. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Yes, I did.” Brittany sighed. “I knew you were in a funk last spring. I knew you were upset about your relationship with Jacob, and I told myself that it wasn’t my business and that I shouldn’t get involved. But maybe if I’d been there for you things wouldn’t have gotten so crazy. Maybe if I’d been the friend you needed then, you wouldn’t have turned to someone else.”
Ginny faced Brittany. “My mistakes are not yours, Brit. And I won’t have you feeling responsible for them. None of what happened was your fault.”
Brittany frowned. “What’s happened between us since then is, though. Instead of looking at things from your perspective, I’ve been wallowing in my own anger.”
“You have every right to be mad at me.”
“Yeah, but I heaped the blame solely on you, and I shouldn’t have. My dad’s just as much to blame. More so because he should know better. Plus, it was easy to stay mad at you because I made it about me. But I know what happened between the two of you had nothing to do with me. And I just want you to know...”
She drew a breath. Did she want to say the words?
Yes. Yes, she did. Because they were the truth.
Brittany exhaled. “I’m here for you. No matter what happens. I’m here for you because if the roles were reversed, I know you’d be here for me.”
Tears filled Ginny’s eyes. “You don’t have to say that to me.”
“Ye
s, I do. Because regardless of everything, you’re my best friend. And the truth is...” Her heart contracted, and tears filled her own eyes. “I was jealous of Jacob. I was jealous of your friendship with him because it was different from ours. And when you were upset because the two of you weren’t a couple, I didn’t get involved because I didn’t want you with him like that. I thought you wouldn’t need me anymore. When you started acting strange last spring, I knew you were seeing someone. I knew whoever it was wasn’t good for you, but I didn’t try to stop you because I figured anyone was better than Jacob. Not for you, but for me.”
Ginny tried to blink back the tears but they slipped past her lashes. “Even if something had developed between me and Jacob, you and I would have still been close.”
“I know that now. But then...” Brittany shook her head. “I was stupid. Can you ever forgive me?”
“I’m the one who needs forgiving, not you.”
Tears filled Brittany’s own eyes. “How about we both just admit we made mistakes and move on?”
The corners of Ginny’s lips tipped up as she stared at Brittany. “I think I can do that.”
“Me, too.” They stared at each other for several seconds, then Brittany said, “Would it be too awkward if I gave you a hug?”
Ginny’s smile widened, and her eyes sparkled through the tears. “Not at all. And I would love that.”
Brittany moved onto her knees and wrapped her arms around Ginny. The two friends held each other in the fading light for several moments, and even though things between them would never truly be the same, Brittany knew this was the start of something new. And that the road to reconciliation was paved now with good intentions.
Brittany finally released Ginny and sank back on her heels. Swiping at her cheeks, she pushed to her feet and held out her hand. “Come on. It’s getting dark and I’m sure Marisol will start to wonder where you are before long. I’ll walk you home.”
Ginny slid her hand in Brittany’s and let Brittany pull her to her feet. Her growing belly made it awkward, but she finally made it.
“How are you feeling?” Brittany asked as they moved out of the park and onto the illuminated sidewalk. “With the pregnancy, I mean.”
“Good.” Ginny rested a hand on her stomach. “Ready to be done, though.”
“I bet.”
They passed the Italian restaurant, and Brittany couldn’t help but notice the way Ginny stiffened. There was something else they needed to talk about, Brittany realized.
“It wasn’t a date,” she said, glancing sideways at Ginny. “Logan and Delia. It was just dinner. She knew both Logan and Marcus back in school.”
“Oh. Well. She’s very pretty. They dated back in high school, didn’t they?”
Ginny was saying all the right things, but Brittany knew her friend too well. “Yes, but I don’t think he’s interested anymore.”
Hope shone in Ginny’s eyes when she looked Brittany’s way. “How do you know?”
“I could just tell. He looked like he was having a good time but I got the feeling he was acting. I saw what he was really feeling when I told him and Marcus I was leaving to come after you.”
Ginny tensed. “And what did you see then?”
“Hurt. Confusion. Anger.”
Ginny’s gaze darted down to the sidewalk and her shoulders fell.
“He’s still angry with you because he cares,” Brittany said. “You know that, right? The fact he still feels that way is a good thing in the long run. It means there’s hope.”
“Hope for what?”
“That you two can work things out.”
Ginny’s eyes fell closed. “I want to believe that, but...”
Brittany reached for Ginny’s hand, drawing her friend to a stop. When Ginny turned and looked at her, Brittany said, “Believe it. I came around. If I can do it, so can he.”
Ginny stared at her, but instead of hope, Brittany saw doubt in her friend’s eyes. A doubt she hoped wouldn’t prevent Ginny from taking a second chance on happiness if and when it ever came back around.
Chapter Six
Logan’s chest ached with a mixture of disgust and guilt he didn’t like.
The look of betrayal he’d seen in Ginny’s eyes when she’d stood at the end of the sidewalk, watching him and Delia walk out of the restaurant replayed in his mind, making him feel even worse. He had nothing to feel guilty about, dammit. He wasn’t the one who’d lied to the entire town. He wasn’t the one who’d had an affair. He wasn’t the one who’d stabbed daggers through multiple hearts—his included.
He had every right to go out to dinner with a pretty girl. With an old friend. He and Ginny hadn’t been married. They hadn’t been engaged. Hell, they hadn’t even slept together. He’d been a fool to think she was so innocent and sweet when in reality she’d been nothing but a slut.
He winced at that thought. No, that was too harsh. If she really were a slut, she would have tried to sleep with him when they were dating and she hadn’t. She’d been the one who’d wanted to take things slow. Yeah, she’d been stupid and foolish and had made really bad decisions, but that didn’t make her a slut. It made her...
Human, he realized, not liking the way that realization felt in his gut.
“So,” Delia said, slowing her steps at his side where she was still clinging to his arm. “This is me.” She stopped in front of her parents’ white scalloped yard fence and turned to look up at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere and get a drink? It’s still early.”
“No, I need to head home. I have to work in the morning.”
Delia’s eyes darkened, and she inched closer. “My parents are already asleep, you know.” She trailed her fingers down the sleeve of his shirt and across his bare forearm. “You could come in if you want. Stay the night. I promise to be quiet so they don’t know you’re there and to wake you when you need to get up for work.”
Logan looked down at her in the shadows in front of her parents’ house and tried to feel something—anything for her. God knew, if he could put Ginny Moreno out of his heart and fall for someone else, his life would sure as hell be a lot easier. He’d thought he’d loved Delia once, but that feeling had faded so fast, he’d realized long ago it hadn’t been love. It’d been the lust of a teenage boy and not much more. He tried to pull up that lust now, hoping if he could feel even that, it’d be a good sign. But he couldn’t. All he felt for Delia was the warm rush of shared memories and nothing else.
He drew a half step away, letting her know he wasn’t interested. “I don’t think I’ll be ready for that anytime soon.” When her face fell with the bite of rejection, he added, “I just got out of a relationship.”
“With the pregnant girl?” When his eyes widened at her brashness, she said, “I heard the rumors. I just didn’t believe them until right now. How could you of all people have gotten involved with someone who lied and cheated the way she did?”
The hair on Logan’s nape tingled, and he glared down at her. “Careful, Delia. It wasn’t that long ago you were the girl at the center of Storm’s rumor mill, lying to everyone about your indiscretions. If anyone should feel sympathetic to what Ginny’s going through, it’s you.”
Delia’s mouth snapped closed, and she glanced down at his shirt. “You’re right,” she said quietly. “That was bitchy of me.”
Now he felt like a douche for calling her out on it. That guilt swirled inside Logan.
Delia lifted her gaze to his and studied him for several seconds. “So you and Ginny. Are you still in love with her?”
“No,” he huffed.
“You denied that awfully quick there, Logan Murphy. Sounds to me like there’s still something between the two of you.”
“Well, there’s not.” He crossed his arms over his chest, but even to his own ears, that declaration sounded lame.
He wasn’t still in love with Ginny. He was trying his best to get over her and move on with his life. It wasn’t his fault this was a sm
all town and he kept running into her every damn place he went.
“If there’s one thing I know a lot about,” Delia said softly, interrupting his thoughts, “it’s regret. I made my fair share of mistakes here and in Dallas, but the regret...that lives with a person. It’s why I came back here. It’s why I’m trying to fix things with my parents. It’s not easy to ask people to give you a second chance, but everyone deserves that, regardless of what they’ve done. Me included.”
She hesitated and looked up at him. “Maybe that’s what you need. A second chance with Ginny.”
He frowned because that was not what he’d expected her to say after that little diatribe. If anything, he’d expected her to talk about a second chance between him and her. “You don’t know anything about me and Ginny.”
“I know you still love her. I saw it in your eyes when you looked at her. And I heard it in your voice just now. That doesn’t bode well for me at the moment but...life is short. You of all people should know that from your time in the military. People make mistakes. Happiness, though...true happiness...that’s very hard to come by. If you have a chance to be happy with Ginny, I think you should ignore everything else and go for it. Because trust me, happiness like that doesn’t come around all that often.”
His pulse sped up, and his heart beat hard and fast as he stared at her and tried to tell himself she didn’t know what she was talking about. But his brain was spinning too fast to convince himself of that. And when she moved close, lifted to her toes, and kissed his cheek, he was too dazed to try to stop her.
“You’re a good man, Logan Murphy. You have a very big heart, and I’m sure I’m going to regret this in the morning but...” She lowered to her heels and looked up at him. “Go to her. Give her a second chance. We both know that’s what you really want.”
Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm) Page 7