guy to fill in at the last minute and I agreed to do it. For you. Everyone thought it was so amazing that I’d come through like that. But I didn’t do the hard middle stuff—building the set or all the rehearsals. I just got to swoop in at the end when the play was already all put together and everyone else was awesome and I just happened to know the lines from helping you learn yours.”
She nodded. He was right. He’d always gotten credit for being the one to save the day. To save her day. “And we were good enough friends that we were able to ad lib any lines that you forgot or flubbed,” she added.
“I’ve always been there for you, but I’m always the guy who comes in when you most need someone and all else has failed. Like when you were learning to drive. Your dad put the hard time in. I came in at the end, when he was fed up, and helped you get over your nerves. But he taught you the basics and dealt with the tears. And the crushed traffic cones and the bent fender.”
She grimaced. Her dad had not enjoyed teaching her to drive.
“And when you were having trouble in geometry, I helped tutor you. But you already knew the basics and Mr. Orillon saw you after school for days before I came in to help.”
Okay, also true.
“And I wasn’t the boyfriend,” he went on, “so I didn’t have to deal with your annoying habits all the time or you getting mad at me because I was going out with my friends instead of you and then getting into an argument.”
“Wait, you think I have annoying habits?”
He gave her a look. “But I didn’t have to say that. I got to be the guy who said you were awesome and that Jason was an asshole and then I brought you ice cream or flowers and I was the big, sweet best friend.”
She thought about that. Yeah, Fletcher had always sided with her.
“And then there was Vegas…” he said dryly. “The ultimate grand gesture.”
“But…I needed you.”
“I know. But dammit—” He looked and sounded frustrated. “I swooped in and ‘saved’ you when things got really bad and went public. But you and Jason have been drifting apart for a long time. Why didn’t I ever show up in Nashville to see how you were?” He shoved a hand through his hair. “See? I don’t put in the tough time in the middle. But I always get to be the big hero.”
“So you think you’ve been getting off easy all this time. Not really working that hard but getting the credit for being the one who gets me whatever I need. But it’s really just that you come through when everyone else has failed and there’s no way to screw it up.”
She understood what he was saying. And he wasn’t wrong. But some of this was on her too, for letting him think that he was Mr. Perfect.
“I have been,” Fletcher insisted. “I’ve been doing it on purpose.”
“What?”
“I didn’t realize it at first. Like with the school play. But I always come in when it’s easy to save the day. There was literally no one else who could have filled in the day before opening night of the play. They were going to push it back. I just had to stand up there and say lines that were close.”
“You came through for me, every single time I needed you,” she insisted.
“They were all times when I couldn’t do anything wrong.” He shook his head. “But I didn’t realize it until we were eighteen. When your grandpa died.”
Jordan frowned and hugged her arms against her stomach. “What do you mean? You were awesome.”
“I showed up at your house at the end of the day.”
“Yeah, when I just needed to get out and find some peace and quiet.”
Fletcher nodded. “I know.”
His eyes were on her knees instead of her face. Though Jordan didn’t think he was really seeing her knees.
“I stayed at the back of the church during the funeral with my brothers and mom and dad. And I didn’t come over to your house until I figured you were pretty cried out.”
She frowned. “What are you getting at?”
He blew out a breath and looked up at her. “I couldn’t stand to see you cry. It was killing me how sad you were. And I had no idea what to say. So I waited until