Free Always the Best Man by Michelle Major Page A

so obvious it was easy to hold herself accountable for any perceived slight. Flawed as she might be, Emily had never been a coward.
    So she remained on the rocker, her legs curled under the thin blanket she’d brought out to ward off the evening chill of the high mountains. Although she couldn’t concentrate on the actual words, she kept her eyes trained on the e-reader in her lap as a door slammed shut and the heavy footfall of boots sounded on the steps.
    â€œWhat are you reading?”
    She ran one finger over the screen of the e-reader but didn’t answer.
    â€œYou can ignore me,” he said as he sank into the chair next to her, “but I won’t go away.”
    â€œThere’s always hope,” she quipped, her fingers gripping the leather cover of the e-reader tighter at his soft chuckle.
    They sat in silence for a minute, and Emily’s grasp began to relax. As if sensing it he said, “I’m sorry, Em.”
    â€œIt’s fine,” she lied. “Point taken. I overstepped the bounds.” There she went, instinctively making his mistake her fault.
    â€œMy reaction wasn’t about you. What you did for my dad today was kind. It made him happier than I’ve seen him in a long time to have a beautiful woman caring for him.”
    â€œNo big deal.”
    â€œDon’t do that.” His hand was around her wrist, warmth seeping through the fleece sweatshirt she’d pulled on when the sun disappeared behind the mountain. “It was special to him, and it should have been to me, as well.” He stood, releasing her, and paced to the edge of the porch. “I love my father, but I hate the man he was when I was younger. He was mean and embarrassing. Everyone knew the problems he had, but that didn’t stop me from being humiliated when I’d have to get him home after a night at the bars.”
    She could see the tension in his shoulders as he gazed out into the darkening night. “He showed up one year for a parent-teacher conference so drunk he ended up puking all over the first-floor bathroom. I never let him come to another school function.”
    She flipped closed the cover of her e-reader, her heart already melting for this man’s pain. “Jase—”
    He turned to her, folded his arms across his chest. “It killed me to live in that trailer growing up. The only saving grace was that no one but me had to see him at his worst. Even Noah, all the times he picked me up, has never been inside. That place represents my greatest shame, and my dad refuses to move. To see you there with all of the memories that seem to seep out of the walls to choke me... I couldn’t stand it. It felt like you’d be contaminated by it.”
    Emily stood, placed the blanket and e-reader on the chair and walked toward him.
    Jase shook his head. “You’re too good for that, Em. Too good for him. I’m sorry I lashed out, but I still hate that you—that anyone—has seen that piece of who I am.”
    â€œNo.” She stepped into his space until she could feel his breath whispering over the top of her head. “You’re too good to give in to that shame. Where you came from doesn’t change who you are now.”
    â€œAre you kidding?” He didn’t move away from her but leaned back against the porch rail as if he needed space. “That trailer and what it represents made me who I am. The night in my front yard, you said I was perfect, and I know what my reputation is around town. Nice Jase. Sweet Jase. Perfect Jase. No one sees anything else because I don’t let them. Everyone thinks I work so damn hard despite my family’s reputation in Crimson. I work hard because of where I came from. Because I’m scared to death if I don’t, the poison that has crushed the self-respect of so many people in my family will take me down, too.”
    Something dark and dangerous flashed in his eyes and she saw