“Get up!” Aunt Fran pushed on Deacon’s shoulder. “Time for the Toys for Tots party.”
He groaned. “It’s too early.”
“It’s noon, kid. Rise and shine.” Aunt Fran was too perky for her own good now that she and the colonel were an item.
The colonel called her Frannie.
She called him Freddie.
Deacon wanted to gag. Love was a pain in the ass. And he really wanted to get back to New York to forget that fact.
Also, Christmas sucked. Didn’t everyone know?
“George? Can you help me, please?” Aunt Fran’s voice was more shrill than usual.
“I’ll be right there,” George called. “Gareth has particularly bad body odor today. He found a dead squirrel and rolled all over it in the park. Let me put him right under Deacon’s nose. That’ll get him moving.”
Deacon groaned. “I hate you all.”
“That’s fine,” Aunt Fran replied mildly. “As long as you get your ass out of bed and you’re ready to roll in thirty minutes. Did you buy a present for a deserving child?”
“Yes. I bought a bunch of bikes for teenagers.”
“That’s a shock,” said Aunt Fran. “You’ve been sulky and uncooperative, I assumed you hadn’t done anything, so I used the money I was going to put toward your Christmas suit to buy a few sets of mini Bluetooth speakers.”
Deacon’s head hurt. That was all he cared about. “I didn’t want a new suit anyway.”
“Good,” Aunt Fran said. “You’re acting childish. You’ve only been given a million blessings and don’t seem to appreciate them.”
“Stop with the badgering. I’m not on your show.” He sat up and winced.
“That’s right. You’re not.” She sat next to him and put her hand on his back. “You’re not someone I say hi and bye to. You’re my nephew. I love you more than anyone on the planet. And I know you have great things inside you.”
He shook his head. “I’m ordinary, Aunt Fran. I’m not like you—someone everyone relates to. You’ve got a special quality—”
“That you have too. And don’t you dare squander it.” She stood. “You don’t have to be on TV to do amazing things. Nor do you have to work yourself to the bone at your job to prove you’re a captain of the tech industry. Why don’t you try to relax? Like you have this month? And get to know yourself better? Cut your workload in half. You’ll still make plenty of money.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Your father—”
“Don’t talk about him.” Deacon put his head in his hands.
She threw open the curtains, and a shaft of sunlight pierced him between the eyes. “Your father,” she insisted on saying, “valued every second of his life with your mother.”
“Please,” Deacon said, “don’t make me feel guilty.”
Aunt Fran stomped her foot. “You think I’m worried about you? I feel guilty! Here I’ve brought up my brother’s son, and I must have done a piss-poor job because you love a certain woman very dear to me too, and you don’t have the balls to tell her so, for reasons I cannot fathom. Son, you’re a Banks. And Banks don’t run.”
Deacon shifted. The bedsprings creaked under his weight. “Did I just hear you tell me I have no balls?”
“I don’t know. Did you?”
“Hey.” He cast a bleary eye in her direction. “That’s not nice.”
“Well, you haven’t been nice yourself.”
“And you’re wrong, you know. About Macy. I don’t love her. I like her. A lot.”
“Is that so?” Aunt Fran pierced him with a knowing look. “I’m glad your heart’s not involved. Because any day now some brilliant, sensitive man is going to recognize he can’t live without her. And he’s going to sweep her off her feet while you’re flirting with sweet young girls half your age. What a shame.”
George was in the room now. He looked upset. Angry. Concerned. All the emotions people feel when someone they love is screwing up their lives without any help from anyone else.
Deacon stood, ignoring the nausea in his belly and his crashing headache, all self-induced from slamming too many beers the night before. As he put his hands on his aunt’s shoulders, he could feel those frail bones of hers trembling.
That broke his heart.
“Coming to Charleston,” he said, “has made me realize there are things I need to face, and things I’m missing out on. I’m not going to run anymore. I promise. I always felt safer that way. But I’m learning that safe is dull.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” His aunt had some of her perkiness back, but there was still an edge of seriousness in her tone. “I know that sometimes I rush through life too fast too. No one likes to stop and feel the hard parts, you know? But we need to. They’re worse when we avoid them. And eventually, they catch up with us.” She paused. “I know you’ve always had a big hole in your life.”
He wouldn’t deny it.
“And you feel guilty because sometimes you wonder what life would have been like with your parents,” she said softly.
Deacon raked a hand through his hair. “I have wondered that. And I do feel guilty sometimes. But if someone told me I could choose another life—a different path—I’d say no. I love my life exactly the way it is. And I have you to thank for it.” He took a deep, cleansing breath. “You’ve been the greatest aunt in the world. And you’ve taught me all the right things. I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. I love you.” He hugged her close.
He looked over at George, who had a tear rolling down his cheek.
“I love you too,” Aunt Fran said into Deacon’s chest. “I can’t breathe, but I do.”
He managed a chuckle and let her go. She laughed.
“I need a tissue.” George whimpered quite convincingly as he left the room.
Deacon gathered his resolve. “I have a couple of plans I’ve been thinking about, and I’m done with thinking. I’m ready to do something about them.”
When he had told his aunt all the details, she patted his cheek. “A little tough love can wreak miracles. It worked on me too, when you forced me out of bed to see the colonel.”
“George is next,” Deacon said.
They both turned. There he was in the doorway.
“When hell freezes over,” George replied serenely. His tears were gone. “Chop-chop!” He clapped his hands together twice. “It’s time for a Toys for Tots party. And a lot else, apparently.”