Tully’s bottom lip pouts out and I cringe, realizing I took it too far for her fragile heart to cope with. “Really? You had to go and say that?”
“Sorry,” I grumble. “I was just being honest.”
“Can we get back to the matter at hand?”
“Ummm…what was that again?”
She rolls her eyes and I swear, if we were standing up right now, I’m almost certain that she’d stomp her foot on the ground. “Fixing up the house.”
“Oh, yeah. I kind of think it’s a great idea but I guess my concern would be that Gina is attached to it. I mean, you wouldn’t want to go to the effort of fixing it up for Rivers to have a nice place to come home to only for Gina to sell it out from under you and reap all the rewards of your hard work.”
Tully’s face falls and a frown pulls at her lips. “I didn’t think about that,” she mutters. “Though, it makes me wonder why she hasn’t sold it already.”
“Do you really think someone like Gina would go to all the effort to sell her home while she’s in there. That’s way too much paperwork and meetings with agents for her to bother with. Besides, if she sells then she’ll have nowhere to live when she gets out.”
Tully looks across at me. “When is she getting out?”
My brows dip down as I try to remember the details of her sentencing but for some reason, absolutely nothing is coming to me. Am I really that self-absorbed that I haven’t even taken a moment to learn how long she’ll be behind bars for? “I actually have no idea,” I tell Tully. “But considering what she’s in for, I’d say it’s a really long time.”
“Yeah, I guess I’m just trying to work out if she’s going to walk in and surprise us all one day or if we’re safe from that trainwreck.”
“I’d dare say we’re safe,” I tell her. “So, what’s it going to be? Are we fixing up his place or not?”
“You know, even if he never gets to see it or if it’s years before he’s home. The idea of him having somewhere nice to come home to makes me feel a litter better about his situation. So yeah, I’m doing it.”
“Cool, count me and Ari in. Something tells me Ari is going to be a fan of painting.”
“Fine but you better warn her that I’m not painting the walls bright pink.”
“Yeah…nah. You can tell her that. I won’t be in charge of breaking her heart after the shit she’s just been through. That’s all on you.”
“Crap,” she sighs. “Rivers is going to end up with pink walls, isn’t he?”
“Damn straight he will and if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll absolutely love it.” I look across to her before motioning down at her phone. “What are you waiting for? Give Lacey a call and we’ll get it finished over the summer.”
Chapter 9
I tap my fingers against the cold table, hating the way these visits always manage to make my skin crawl.
Gina walks through the door in her usual jumpsuit and cuffs with that face that looks so much like mine that I’m left wondering for the millionth time why the hell I do this to myself.
She’s bad news and with everything I’ve learned over the past few months all I’ve come to realize is that Gina likes to play mind games. She let me believe that dad was my real father– he’s not. She made me think that she had nothing to do with Anton– they were married. She let me think that Rivers was my half-brother– he’s so much more.
Thinking about Rivers has the guilt pouring through me. The last time I saw him I made a promise that I wouldn’t come to visit Gina unless it was an absolute must, and by ‘absolute must’ I think Rivers was referring to something along the lines of desperately needing a kidney, not something like confronting her about her mind games and allowing her another chance to get at me.
Rivers certainly wouldn’t approve of this visit, but then, it’s not like he’s here to stop me. All that matters is that Noah knows where I am and that he’s cool with it. Dad’s still away and would probably have another heart attack if he knew I was here right now, but again, it’s not like he’s here to stop me.
Noah promised to take Aria for the day after I convinced him that he didn’t need to come with me which was a mission in itself. I mean, that man doesn’t like being told no. The only thing that changed his mind was when Ari came and stood beside him and slipped her little hand into his and asked if he could take her to get ice cream. He melted like a little bitch and I did my best to smother a laugh as Ari looked up at me and winked. By ‘wink’ I mean that her whole face scrunched up and she gave me an over the top blink, but she tried and it was the best thing I’ve ever seen.