“Yes.”
“I don’t have much experience with those, but I do know it makes you a team. You stick up for one another, help each other out. Seems to me that’s what she was doing.”
“Maybe,” I mumble. “But it doesn’t make what she did right. All Lorelei is going to do with that money is buy more drugs.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But that’s not your problem.”
He’s right. God, I hate it when he’s right.
“It’s not just that. It’s everything Nora’s life represents. The drama and manipulation. We were barely together, and already a photo of me was being twisted to look bad. What happens when I see suggestive photos of Nora with another man?”
“She’s a celebrity. It’s bound to happen.”
“I know that. But how am I supposed to know what’s real and isn’t real? How am I supposed to know she isn’t hiding something or—”
“She’s not Lorelei.”
“I know that.”
“Do you? Because it seems to me you’re expecting her to make the same mistakes Lorelei made.”
Is that what I’m doing?
“You’re waiting for her to screw up because it’s easier than giving her your trust. Listen, brother…” Duke sits beside me. “I’ve never been in a serious relationship. I have no idea what it takes to make one of those work, but I know what it takes to make one fall apart, because I have plenty of practice with that. You asked a second ago how you’re supposed to know what’s real and what isn’t when Nora’s world is made of make believe. Well, you’re not. But you will have to trust her. You have to believe in her and give her a chance.”
“I haven’t done that.”
I haven’t trusted her the way she has me. Fuck, maybe she was right. Maybe I did have one foot out the door the whole time.
I look at Duke. “I fucked up.”
“That’s okay. You’re a man. It’s expected.”
“She told me she loved me, and I threw it back in her face. I didn’t trust her feelings for me. But she’s never given me a reason not to. Other than not tell me she paid off Lorelei, she’s always been open and honest, almost to a fault.”
“Because she is a good fucking woman. I’m telling you, bro, there aren’t many of those left in the world today.”
“What have I done? She told me she loved me, and I led her to believe I don’t feel the same way. But I do. Take away all the shit that happened, and my insecurities, and she’s everything to me. She’s all I think about. All I want. I love her.”
“Yeah, you do! Now go tell her.”
“I can’t.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I can’t leave the kids.”
Duke rolls his eyes. “That’s what I’m here for. Go get your girl.”
I can’t believe I let her go. I was so afraid of getting hurt again, of getting wrapped up in the same shit I dealt with last time I let myself fall in love, that I bailed the first chance I got.
She’s right. I am scared.
I’m also man enough to admit it, and admit when I’m wrong.
“I have to go to her.”
Duke smiles at me. “Go.”