The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(29)

“You’re looking at this all wrong,” Malcolm said. “This is an opportunity.”

“How?”

“She all but dared you to figure her out, to truly learn her language. If she doesn’t want you to say I love you with those words, you’ll have to learn another way to express it, one that she’ll accept.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“We do,” Del said. Then the guys all spoke at once. “Backstory.”

“What the fuck is backstory?”

“Everything, man,” Mack said. “Backstory is everything.”

“It means that whatever happened to your wife before she met you plays a role in who she is today,” Malcolm said. “We are all the sum total of our experiences at any given time, and our reactions to things are shaped by them. Just like in romance novels. Whatever a character went through before the start of the book will eventually determine how they react to things that happen in the book.”

“But we’re talking about my real life here. Not a book.”

“Same principles apply,” Malcolm said. “That’s why fiction resonates with people. It speaks to universal truths.”

Gavin’s food arrived. He devoured a piece of bacon in two bites. Across the table, Mack puffed out his cheeks and made a round gesture over his stomach, so Gavin ate a second piece with a deliberate glare.

“Tell us about Thea’s childhood,” Malcolm said.

The bacon turned to a rock in Gavin’s stomach. “She doesn’t like to talk about it. She always used to change the subject when I would try to get her to talk.”

“So it was a bad childhood?” Yan prodded.

“Her dad’s an asshole, and her mom is a classic narcissist. They got divorced when Thea was ten. She and her sister had to live with their grandma for a few years because neither parent wanted them.”

“Didn’t want them? What does that mean?” Del asked.

“Her father remarried pretty quickly after the divorce, and his new wife didn’t want the girls to live with them, and her mom was just too selfish to want the responsibility.” Gavin ate a quick bite. “I found out last night that her dad is getting remarried again for, like, the fourth time in a couple of weeks.”

The guys all met one another’s gazes with a stunned expression. Del spoke. “You didn’t know this?”

“No.”

“When did Thea find out?”

“Not sure. She found out that he was getting a divorce from his third wife last spring, but I think the wedding invitation only arrived in the past couple of weeks while I’ve been gone.”

Del leaned forward. “How does Thea feel about it?”

“She’s not going to the wedding, if that’s what you mean.”

“Did she say why?”

Gavin tried to recall that part of the conversation from last night. “She said there’s no point because he’s just going to cheat on this one and leave her too.”

The guys stared at him.

He blinked. “What?”

Mack snorted. “You are some kind of stupid.”

“You think her dad’s wedding has something to do with Thea letting me move home?”

Del smacked the back of his head. “No, dumbass. It has something to do with her kicking you out in the first place.”

Gavin opened his mouth to protest but then shut it. He couldn’t argue without revealing the embarrassing truth about what actually led to him leaving.

“And not wanting you to say I love you?” Yan continued. “Of course she doesn’t trust those words, Gavin. When has she ever been shown that love is reliable, that it can last, that it can be trusted?”

“Words don’t matter, Gavin,” Mack said, uncharacteristically sober. “Actions do. And if she’s skittish from her childhood, then it doesn’t matter how many times you say the words to her. You made her doubt your love when you left.”

“Just like her father,” Del said pointedly.

“She kicked me out,” Gavin growled.

“Maybe it was a test,” Yan said.

Gavin swiveled his head to stare at his teammate. “A test,” he repeated.

“Maybe she wanted to see what you would do if she told you to leave. Would you fight for her, or would you just walk away? You walked away, so . . .”

Gavin’s breakfast began to rot in his stomach.

Mack snorted. “There it is. There’s the lightbulb.”

He was too sick to his stomach to take the bait. Love isn’t enough. Was Irena right?

“Look,” Malcolm said calmly, “we never said this was going to be easy. In fact, you need to be prepared for Thea to make this as hard as possible. She’s going to resist you at every step at first.”

“She already is.”

“Which is why you’d better have done some more reading,” Del said.

He sighed. “I read some last night.”

“And?” Del prodded. “Anything stand out to you?”

Gavin glanced around the restaurant. He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Read it to us.”

“Here?”

“Unless you want to wait until Easter to save your marriage,” Yan said.