Page 64 of Imperfect Match (Imperfect Match 1)
Willow
“Hey, you. Why so quiet?” Reid asks, glancing at me from the driver’s seat. We’re on the road back to Chicago from my parents’ lake house.
“No reason,” I tell him.
“Liar.” He pokes me in the side.
“Maybe I’m tired. You kept me up half the night, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. That was fun being quiet.”
“Um, we failed at quiet. Did you not see my mom and sister elbowing each other all through breakfast and my father doing his best not to look either of us in the eye?” I cringe at the memory. “Ugh. Brutal.”
“He’ll live. Now what’s on your mind?”
“Nothing. Really.” It’s totally a lie, and I feel bad about it. I’m not in the habit of lying to Reid. But the truth—that I can’t stop thinking about what he told me about his childhood—would probably upset him. I want to know more, but I don’t want to dredge up unhappy memories.
On the other hand, I don’t seem to be able to let it go.
“Willow, I’ve known you for how long now?”
“Almost three years.”
“And in those three years, how many times have you really been able to fool me?”
I shrug. “A lot.”
“No.” Reid lets out a laugh. “You only think you have, but you haven’t. I see through all your crap. I consider it a gift from my father ... being able to read people.”
I exhale, my shoulders slumping. “I just hate that you had the childhood you did.”
He takes my hand in his. “I do too, but it is what it is.”
Still, it doesn’t mean that he deserved that kind of life. “I keep picturing you and Leo being small and dealing with your family fighting. It was just so different than the way I grew up.”
He nods. “It wasn’t fun, but Leo and I did fine. Well, I did, and I’m working on my brother. Now you know why I don’t talk to my parents. They’re a fucking mess.”
Reid and I have always been open, but when it comes to discussing his family life, he sort of shuts down. Now I know why.
“Does Leo talk to them?”
He sighs with a groan mixed in. “Yeah, and that’s part of the reason he’s a goddamn mess. My mother is Leo’s weak spot. She’s selfish, conniving, and a raging alcoholic. Whenever she’s on a bender or my father has said some horrible shit to her, she calls him.”
“And he always answers?” I guess.
“Yep. Every single time. He’s so damn desperate for my mother to love him, which I don’t even think she’s capable of doing. When it comes to my father, I think Leo’s sort of over trying to change his mind. Dad told him he was a useless waste of space a few years back.” Reid laughs once, but there’s nothing funny about it. “We’re both the children Vince Fortino wished he never had. If I’d taken the job at his company he was grooming me for, he’d probably tolerate me better, but fuck that. I swore I’d never work for him.”
Reid’s fingers turn white from gripping the wheel so tight. There’s tension practically radiating from his body and now I regret telling the truth about my thoughts. My hand presses on his shoulder and then he starts to relax with my touch. “We don’t have to talk about this.”
His eyes meet mine. “No, you should know what kind of bastard I could become.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You’re not a bastard and you’re not your father, Reid. I’ve known you for a long time and you would never treat people like that.”
“Thanks.” His smile is small and skeptical, and it makes my heart ache. I wonder if anyone has ever told him just how amazing he is. Does he know how smart, funny, sexy, and special he is? Did anyone love him for the man he is and could be? I don’t think they did, and for that, I’m sad and angry. Reid deserved more than what they gave him. I plan to love him enough for all of us.
“I’ve worked really fucking hard to be nothing like him. But sometimes I worry it’s inevitable.”
“It’s not. You’ll never be like him.” I rest my head on his shoulder, falling into a comfortable quiet as he drives back to Chicago.
