Through a wall of tears, I stared out the window at the plush lawn. I couldn’t see my family anymore, but I could hear Vic’s chair push out, his voice low but pushed to its brink. “You gotta leave now,” he muttered to Liam, enraged yet still matter-of-fact.
“Not a problem.”
The rest of the table stayed silent. If they knew the truth about Owen, they wouldn’t be. But they didn’t, so they were. Liam’s arms still wrapped around me, I leaned my head back on his shoulders. I was so incredibly tired.
“Well.” I heard Riley’s chair skid out from under the table.
“You go ahead,” Mom said with contempt. “You go right ahead too.”
“Oh, trust me, I will,” Riley said, walking fast ahead of Liam and me to get the door. I was surprised by how placid she was as she stood there, opened it and waited for us to walk through. Her dull eyes were pinned to Mom as Liam carried me down the steps, and I heard her casually toss in the last word before stepping out the house herself. “By the way, I’m getting a divorce.”
And just like that, the front door slammed behind us.
* * *
There was an attempt made at driving the hour and change back to Manhattan. But instead, Liam booked two overpriced hotel rooms a couple miles away, and we headed to Junction Pub. I knew I should have been grateful for how we went from chaos to calm in a mere ten minute drive, but something just didn’t feel right about the smooth transition from cutting off family to drinking whiskey sodas and thanking the bartender for the buybacks.
“Mad at me?” Liam murmured his question once Riley was off to say hi to a friend.
I rattled my ice cubes. “No.”
“You’re quiet.”
“Shouldn’t that be expected?”
Liam gazed down at my hands. “I know you didn’t want it to happen like that. I’m sorry I changed the plans.”
It wasn’t till he apologized that I realized I was upset about that. But considering the circumstances, I wasn’t going to hold it against him. “It’s okay. It’s over.”
He peered across the room at Riley then brought the back of my hand to his smooth lips. “I know,” Liam murmured, giving me a soft kiss. “Almost, at least.”
I said little in return, feeling quiet. But within another hour, I was fine enough to be playing darts with Riley against Liam and one of the guys we regularly saw after holidays at Junction. Anthony or Aaron, or something like tha
t. I didn’t worry about how heavily he and Riley were flirting because she wasn’t quite that drunk yet, and I reasoned she needed this. She needed something of a pick-me-up. I was the only person she wanted to talk to about her divorce, but I knew she felt guilty bringing it up after everything that had happened to me in the past twenty-four hours. Lately, it felt like there was madness at every turn, so harmless flirting at a bar seemed like a good recipe for temporary relief. I just made sure to keep an eye on her when she waltzed off to sit at the guy’s table with all his friends. Sitting at the bar with Liam, our hands entwined under the counter, we went back and forth between watching Riley and trying to talk about happy things, like A.J and Aria, or what we could plan to do for Christmas.
“Aria’s dad has a house in Vail,” I said, laughing at the face Liam made. “I know. It’s kind of posh, but the four of us can go there and have fun. We can bring Max, some of the guys from the gym. It’s a big enough place and Aria’s always fantasized about having people over there. It’s really pretty.”
“Yeah?” Liam grinned at me, his eyes gleaming as true excitement built in my voice.
“Uh-huh. It has a wraparound deck with a view of the river and you can drive to Vail Village in a couple minutes, and – oh.” I nudged his elbow with mine. “You can finally teach me to snowboard since skiing is for bitches.”
He laughed and finished his beer. “I never said that. A.J did.”
“Well, you guys can teach me and Aria how to ride and do jumps and tricks. Or...”
“Or?”
“Or she and I can sit in the lodge and drink boozy hot chocolate till you two are done with all that stuff.”
“That sounds more like what’ll actually happen.”
I giggled, but just then, I heard Riley’s sharp voice cursing someone out across the bar. “Oh, fuck,” I said outright, sliding off my chair and walking fast toward her. I didn’t recognize the girl who was getting up in her face and jabbing a finger an inch from her eyes, but it didn’t take long for me to hear her telling Riley to stay away from her man. Riley laughed with real amusement as she slurred at the girl.
“I don’t even fucking care. He is nobody… nobody…”
Before it got messy, Liam helped me bring Riley back to a corner booth, lifting her up onto the table. She’d snorted and giggled the whole way there, but the second her ass plopped down to sit, tears were streaming down her face. I reached straight for the tissues I’d hoarded in my pockets and started wiping her cheeks, hardly surprised since I knew this moment was bound to come tonight. We’d been through too much to not have a total meltdown at some point. I reasoned it was only healthy.
“Alright. It’s okay, silly,” I smiled as she tried to laugh through her sobbing tears.