Four Weddings and a Swamp Boat Tour - Erin Nicholas Page 0,102
if he had Chase with him. But it felt pretty good that they wanted to come along. And he wouldn’t have to do any thinking or planning or fixing if they were there. He could just concentrate on Paige.
That sounded nice. He didn’t do that much. Or at all. He was the one taking care of everyone else all the time. Maybe this once it would be okay to let them do the caretaking.
“Okay. Well, whoever wants to come, can,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say it like that,” Josh said.
“Why not?”
“Because Fletcher and Zeke and Zander might decide to get in on the road trip too.”
Actually, they really might.
Mitch chuckled. “I guess we could take one of the tour buses.”
“Did your broken-hearted-wallowing-in-being-too-good-of-a-guy ass just laugh?”
Mitch glanced at Chase. “I’m wallowing in being-too-good-of-a-guy?”
“That’s your problem,” Chase said.
Josh, Owen, and Ellie all nodded.
“There’s such a thing as being too good of a guy?”
“When it causes you to let the love of your life get away?” Ellie asked. “Damn right there is.”
He focused on his grandmother. “Do you think she’ll stay this time?”
That was what he wanted. It was clear to him now. He wanted Paige to see that damn otter enclosure grand opening. Because it was a little thing in the world, but it was a big thing in his world. And he wanted her to be a part of it. She didn’t have to walk down any aisles with him, and if she still wanted to go to Colorado in August, he’d encourage it. But he’d probably ask if he could come along. And then work on talking her into coming back to the bayou with him after they hung out in the mountains for a while.
“If you ask her to,” Ellie said.
“You think that’s okay?”
Ellie leaned on to the bar. “You are the most laid-back person I know. You go with the flow. You let us all do and be whatever we want.” She paused. “And it’s annoying as hell sometimes.”
Mitch frowned at her. “How can that be annoying?”
“Because going through life not caring enough about anything to fight and push and try means you’re not really letting yourself feel,” Ellie told him. “You need to have some passions. You deserve to have some passions. And to be able to really show them. And the people in your life need to know when you have passion for them.” she said. “Finally, someone came along that made you care that much. I know it will take you some practice now, letting someone take care of you a little, but Paige owes you some patience. The best first step is going after her and telling her you want her.”
Mitch swallowed. Then nodded. “I do want her.”
“Tell her that,” Ellie said.
“She might still leave anyway.”
Ellie nodded. “She might. But you will have fewer regrets about that than you will about never telling her what you want.”
Mitch took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“And Mitch?” his grandmother asked.
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have to do anything special or really, anything at all, to be loved. We love you for who you are, not what you do. You are not, nor have you ever been, a burden to any of us. And I could kick your daddy’s ass for making you think that.”
He stared at her. Ellie seemed genuinely upset. He swallowed hard. He could see the truth—and the love—in her eyes. He finally nodded. “Okay.”
“You believe me?” she asked.
Ellie had never lied to him. Hell, she never even cushioned the truth. Whether it was to tell you that you were acting like an ass, someone had died, or that she loved you and was proud of you, Ellie just said it like it was.
“I do,” he answered.
“Good. And now you need to let that girl love you too,” Ellie said. “She needs to do it as much as you need her to.”
He nodded again. “Yes, ma’am.”
Ellie smiled. “Go get her.”
“All right.” Chase clapped his hands together. “And no bitching about the cold and asking for hot sauce everywhere we stop for food,” he said, pointing at Owen.
Owen reached over and snagged a bottle of hot sauce off one of Ellie’s tables. “Got it.”
Chase looked at Mitch. “It’s a good thing she stopped in Peoria. I don’t think you want this showing up in her hometown.”
Mitch grinned, feeling lighter than he had in days. He was going to get Paige. He was going to let her—and everyone else—love him. Just… that. Damn, that sounded nice.