"I don't smell like Leonard," I argued.
He considered that with a tilt of his head. "Eh, it's close. Come on, up you go."
With one hand in my dad's and Grady on the other side holding my elbow, I stood from the couch. As soon as I was up, my dad wrapped me in a tight hug, which I returned immediately. Grady smiled when I heaved a trembling sigh.
"Thanks, Dad," I whispered, turning my face to kiss his cheek.
His face flushed red when I pulled away. "Well, I don't know the whole story, but your brother told me a little bit. I don't have a whole lot of experience with breakups, but I do know how to make pancakes and bacon, and that's as good a plan as any." He rubbed my back. "Go shower, Gracey B. You stink to high heaven."
When I came out of the steaming bathroom twenty minutes later, my wet hair braided off my face and wearing fresh clothes, the wreckage of the last two days was cleared out, and the air smelled like bacon. A stack of pancakes sat on a white plate, as my dad and brother worked in the small kitchen, talking quietly as they did.
I plopped onto a stool, snatching two pieces of hot bacon. "Festival starts in two days," I said.
My dad nodded. "Sure does."
"I'm supposed to stand next to him all day." I snapped a piece in half before eating another piece. "I don't know how I'm supposed to do that."
"You could drink," Grady suggested. "Like, all day. Just start drinking when you get there and don't stop until you've kissed every single Green Valley resident who decides to fork over their hard-earned cash to do so."
I stared. "You are not helpful in the slightest."
My dad chuckled.
"So what did he tell you?" I asked Dad, pointing at Grady with the bacon.
Grady snatched it out of my hand and ate it in two bites. "That Tucker needs his ass kicked."
"He doesn't need a beating, you Neanderthal."
My dad held up a hand. "I got the Cliffs Notes. Tucker's your guy, you believe in this curse nonsense, and he didn’t tell you about a few things that he should’ve told you."
The bacon tasted ashy in my mouth at how succinct it all was when someone else laid it out. "That about sums it up."
My dad's bushy eyebrows lifted briefly over his eyes. "You know I’m always gonna take your side, Gracey. But I know what it’s like to wish you said the right thing or took more care in how you phrased things when you’re caught off guard." Another golden pancake joined the stack, steam curling from the surface. I picked it up slowly, dropping it onto my plate while my dad poured more batter onto the hot griddle. While I smeared butter over the fluffy pancake, Grady slid the bottle of syrup close.
“Can I use your laptop real quick?” he asked.
“I don’t care,” I told him. Seriously. Like I cared about him checking his email while I was trying to glean life wisdom from my father about my relationship issues.
"You think I was wrong to leave?" I asked.
Dad shrugged. "Not saying anyone was wrong, or anyone was right. I wasn’t there, and I’m not going to condemn the man because he coulda handled things better."
“I’m not condemning him either,” I pointed out. “I still love him.”
Grady’s fingers paused over the keyboard as he looked at me. “So you don’t want me to take a steel pipe to his balls?”
I cut him a look. “You can wait on that.”
“I’m just sayin,” my dad continued, flipping the pancake without moving his eyes from my face. “Men do stupid things sometimes. We can’t help it.”
“And women don’t?” Grady asked.
“Of course they do,” my dad answered. “Your mom would be the first to admit she was responsible for her fair share in our marriage.”
I chewed slowly as I thought about the two of them. Not suited for each other, in any way, really. Tucker and I were suited. Really, exceptionally, heart-burstingly suited. But I didn’t know how to ignore how he’d made me feel. How the entire situation made me feel, even the parts I was responsible for.
“What do you want out of this, Gracey B?” Dad asked. He flipped the griddle off and leaned against the counter.
“I want to be with him.” I sighed. “But I want to know that he wants to be with me just as badly. That he’d sacrifice for me, the way I would for him.”
“What about the curse?” Grady asked.
“What about it?”
“It’s weird though, right? Like you don’t have a choice in wanting that.”
I tapped the tines of the fork against my lips while I thought. My tongue darted out to catch the syrup that was still sticking to the cold metal. “I don’t know. I think … I think that I do. If I left Green Valley,” I paused and swallowed, “I’d be able to find someone who could make me happy. I could find someone that would love me. I’d just always know that Tucker could make me happier. That Tucker is the one I’d love the most. If I could live with that, then yeah, I always have a choice.”
They were quiet as they processed that, the two men in my life that knew me the best. Neither one believed in the Buchanan curse, and I couldn’t blame them. And they probably couldn’t understand why I’d even consider leaving Green Valley, not that I had my bags packed or anything.
I’d come to love this town, even if it wasn’t quite in love with me. Another thing that I had to accept, at least for the time being.
“I still think that whole thing is horseshit,” my dad mumbled.
I laughed, and oh, it felt good after a few days of serious wallowing. “Just wait, Pops. Maybe some silver fox will move into town and you’ll be forced to admit that we were right all along.”
He laughed so
