Page 13 of Holiday Home 3
“Without a doubt, Avril deserved the rebuke Tess gave her,” the woman who’d nearly become the sultry redhead’s sister-in-law said. “I’d have done the same. I’d have very possibly said even harsher things.”
That wasn’t the part he wanted to focus on, so Liam simply held Victoria’s sharp stare and nodded again.
“But the word Tess used is one of the few that would affect Avril in the way you must have seen her react.”
“So it was that specific word?”
Victoria nodded. “There’s some baggage with that word. And I’m the one who supplied it.”
That drew his eyebrows up. “Something with her brother, then?”
“Not just her brother, but yes. My judgment of her brother has long been that he is a narcissist. Not just someone with narcissistic tendencies but that he is a full-blown narcissist. And even years later, I’m unwilling to alter that judgment. Avril does know my thoughts on this matter. It’s not just her brother, either.
“We’ve talked about this before, but while Avril certainly shares some similarities withCasey, she does care about other people—Anna chief among them. She has a bit more of her grandfather in her than most of her direct family members. Unfortunately, her parents fall into a similar camp as their son. With the obscene wealth that they have, it’s not shocking. It’s been fairly well documented that individuals in their tax bracket tend to be more commonly narcissistic.”
“So, it’s that she hates being compared to her family?”
“That’s right. Especially in that way and by who made the comparison. Avril lacks naught for confidence or ego, as anyone with eyes can tell, so most rebukes flow by her like air. But Tess is one individual whose opinion matters to her, and that specific term of reproach makes it unsurprising that Avril took it so hard. It might strain your imagination, but she is quite tame in terms of vainness and egocentricity compared to Casey and her parents.”
Liam nodded along, believing every word Victoria spoke. If there was one person he knew wouldn’t be prone to exaggeration, it was the severe professor sitting across from him.
“It’s something I noticed during those vacations with the Knights I told you about. It isn’t that they scorned the staff they had on hand so much as if they barely registered their existence. It was eye-opening how little they think about others, even each other. If Avril vanished during the day, neither her parents nor her brother would even think to ask after her whereabouts. There was one dinner where a plate was set for her and everything, yet no one even mentioned that she hadn’t shown up for dinner until I did so ten minutes in. She’d been gone almost the entire day by that point. She was eleven years old at the time. I was the one who ended up scouring the beach until I found her at almost midnight, just wandering.”
He'd stopped nodding along, instead focusing on absorbing Victoria's explanation. He could hear the distress and frustration in Victoria’s voice. The events she spoke of still bothered her to this very day. He likened what she told him of Avril’s past to his own.He’dbeen an accident. Literally unwanted in his conception. Yet, even for all that, he’d never received anything but care and love from his parents. Even though they hadn’t wanted a second child, when they’d found out they would have one, his parents had put forth every effort toraise him in a tender and loving home, just as they had his much older brother.
While he couldn’t fully know the Knights’ circumstances without seeing things for himself, he remained confident that Victoria wasn’t using hyperbole. If she said things were that bad, then he believed her.
“Thanks for sharing this stuff with me,” he said. “How she reacted makes a lot more sense now.”
“Since this is seeming to become our usual manner of exchange when we’re alone, now that I’ve shared what I have about the past, may I ask you something as well?”
“Um, yeah, sure.”
“Do you think Avril only kissed you to upset Anna?”
Liam regretted shaking his head but knew Victoria deserved a truthful answer.
“No, because she said it wasn’t just that. Oh, she didn’t share that with Anna, just Tess and me. So, Anna’s not in the know about that part.”
“I see.”
WhatVictoria saw remained, as ever, a mystery to him. Her cryptic reply offered little assistance, but maybe he could just come out and ask her for a morsel more than what she’d given him.
The worst she can say is no.
“Do you have any thoughts you want to share? I know you know Avril way better than I do, and I know you’re another person whose opinion she definitely values.”
“I think Avril is making an already complicated situation even more so by doing what she’s done,” Victoria said, pressing her lips together flatly. “She shouldn’t pursue you in any capacity right now, though I doubt I could talk sense into her head even if you allowed me to try. How she acted around you at the party two nights ago makes more sense now, too.”
Liam smiled toothlessly, offering no counterpoint to her accurate statement. More accurate than she knew, given the few times they’d more than bumped into one another when it’d just been the two of them during the party.
“How doyoufeel about her attraction?” Victoria then asked.
How indeed. The baggage Liam needed to unload to reach his true feelings on the matter could have filled a Boeing 747’s luggage compartment to the brim. Firstly, he wasalreadyintimate with Avril. That was the real kicker in all of this. They’d done far more than just kiss; it’d just been something that hadn’t happened in front of a crowd.
Avril had dragged out her interest in him in front of Tess and Anna, and he didn’t know if he could handle that happening again. As beautiful, vivacious, and bold as she was, today could have ended in utter disaster. They might not have announced it aloud yet, but it really felt like he and Tess were basically a couple. If not, they were on the path to becoming one.
No matter what, he couldn’t risk losing that. Avril Knight was pure sunlight most of the time, and he owed her so much—more than he could ever properly repay her. Unfortunately, he didn’t think he could handle a day as rainy as this one had almost become.