Page 78 of The Perfect Deal

“I know you’re mad, Joshua,” he said, wedging more of himself into the mostly closed door. “And you should be. But will you please just let me in for a few minutes?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I told him. Seeing as though there was nothing I could do to keep him out, I moved back to the suitcase. Of course, he followed me inside. Landon didn’t like it when he didn’t get his way.

“Are you going home?” he asked as I put another shirt inside the suitcase. This one wasn’t folded nearly as neatly as the others since I was clearly distracted.

“No,” I said sarcastically. “I’ve been chosen for the next mission to the moon. Who would’ve thought astronauts needed swim trunks?”

Landon said nothing in response to my annoyed remark, only stood behind me with his arms folded, watching. “Listen, we really need to talk about this.”

“Well, since you’ve broken into my room, I guess I can’t stop you from talking, but I can’t imagine you have anything to say that I’d want to hear,” I told him, picking up a pair of khaki shorts and practically wadding them up before shoving them into my luggage. At this rate, not everything that came out was going to go back in.

Chuckling at my comment, he said, “I don’t think I broke in exactly. You did open the door.”

Tossing my head back, I let go of a loud sigh, coupled with a moan. “Okay, Landon. Whatever you say. You’re always right, after all.”

“I’m not always right, Joshua,” he said, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard come out of his mouth before. “I wasn’t right when it came to getting between you and Liberty, and for that, I’m very sorry.”

Disbelief washed over me as I turned to look at him. While I’d had plenty of time over the last couple of days to imagine him coming in here to apologize to me, I didn’t think it would ever really happen. At best, I expected him to come and growl some sort of half-hearted admission that he shouldn’t have interfered and then go on about his business, still trying to keep us apart.

But this was different. Not only had he actually said he was sorry, but judging by the look on his face, he actually meant it. Landon Johnson was sorry for something he’d said to me. It was a fucking miracle.

So I was suspicious.

“Really?” I asked, still scrutinizing him. “You’re sorry?”

“I am very sorry,” he said again. “Listen, Joshua, you have to know, you mean more to me than just about anyone else in the world. I love you like a brother. I always have. And Liberty, well, she’s my sister. There aren’t many other people on the planet I care more about than the two of you. The fact that the two of you like one another, that you enjoy spending time in one another’s company, that should be a good thing. Itisa good thing to everyone. And now that I understand that, I’m really sorry I reacted the way I did. It was just a shock, honestly. I mean, I had no idea the two of you had moved your relationship along so quickly.”

He still didn’t get it. Shaking my head, I sank down on the bed, scooting my suitcase out of the way. “Landon, we haven’t moved quickly at all. In fact, there are snails that have lapped us in our efforts to make progress in our relationship.”

He stared at me, not understanding. Whether it was because he was still startled about the details of what had been going on between Liberty and me or the fact that he just didn’t get my analogy, I couldn’t say. I was going to have to spell it out for him.

“We’ve been into one another for years. I’d dare say I’ve loved her since she was a little girl in pigtails. We were just avoiding hurting your feelings for so long that nothing ever really happened between us. Then, the whole situation with Grady blew up, and it turns out we were right to be concerned that you wouldn’t want us to see one another.”

Landon sat down, too, leaving a few feet between us. “Joshua, if you would’ve told me in high school that you wanted to date my sister, I would’ve been psyched about it. The only reason I became so guarded when it came to Liberty was because of Grady. I know that you’re not the same kind of guy as Grady, but when I found out the two of you had already slept together, and I’d just started encouraging you to see one another a couple of weeks ago, I lost my shit. It seemed like maybe you only had one thing in mind. And while I knew that Liberty liked you, I guess, it never occurred to me that you really liked her, too.”

I listened to everything he had to say, not sure it was all accurate. Even before the problems with Grady occurred, Liberty and I had been afraid to tell Landon about our feelings for one another for fear he’d flip out. I had been shocked when Landon had approved of Grady dating her. Everyone knew he was a player, but he’d fooled both of them into thinking he had good intentions, and I’d found out later that Liberty had really only gone out with him to see if it would make me jealous. It definitely had, but by the time I realized I needed to do something about it, Grady was breaking up with her, telling everyone he’d only dated her to get her into bed, and then Landon forbade all of his friends from dating his sister, so I was locked out.

I took a deep breath and tried to see this from Landon’s perspective. “Listen, I’m really sorry we weren’t honest with you from the beginning. A lot of this turmoil might’ve been avoided if we would’ve just trusted you and come to you with our feelings to start. We both just care so much about you, we didn’t want to do anything to upset you. I’m sorry I wasn’t more straightforward.” I hoped he heard what I was saying. I was trying to say I was sorry I’d fucked his sister behind his back, but I couldn’t get my mouth to form those words, no matter how hard I tried.

Landon smiled at me. “I appreciate it, brother. Listen, if Liberty makes you half as happy as Poppy makes me, I know the two of you will end up together. Your happiness and my sister’s happiness are what’s most important here, not my feelings.”

I shook his hand, and he pulled me into a hug. “Thank you, Landon. I promise you, I love Liberty more than anything. All I want is to make her happy. I’ll stop at nothing to make sure she has the best life imaginable.”

“Whoa, dude. Those sound like some serious words,” Landon said, grinning at me.

He was right—they did. I was talking about more than just dating her, wasn’t I? But then, hadn’t I known for years that, if I ever had the opportunity, I’d ask Liberty to marry me? I wasn’t planning on doing that right away, but I could see it happening someday. Maybe sooner than later.

“Thanks for the talk,” I told him. “I hope Liberty will chat with me eventually, and we can get this straightened out.”

“Yeah, I haven’t spoken to her myself,” he admitted. “But Poppy has. I’ll get out of your hair, but I hope you’re not planning on leaving now?”

I shook my head. “Not at the moment.”

“Cool. Why don’t you swing by my room in about thirty minutes? I have something I want to show you.”

I stared at him in confusion for a moment, wondering what in the world that could be, but then, a lot had happened in the last two days while I was sulking, I assumed. “Okay. See you soon.” He nodded and headed out the door, leaving me alone with my partially packed suitcase and a million thoughts running through my mind.

Was Liberty in her room, or had she ventured out? I had no idea. I wanted to see her so bad, but I couldn’t just knock on her door to see if she’d talk to me.