It was different during the summer, she was distracted then. Now that she didn’t have Jace to distract her, she felt as though she was right back where she started. A tear ran down her cheek that she didn’t bother to brush it away.
“Renie, are you in there?” asked Luke, Ben’s ten-year-old son.
“Yep. You can come in,” she answered.
Luke opened the door slowly and walked into the dark room.
“Are you crying, Renie?”
“Nah.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You’re on to me, aren’t you?”
Luke walked over to the window and opened the blinds.
“What are you doing?” she covered her eyes against the sunlight that streamed in.
“It’s afternoon, time to get up and do something with your day.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your worst nightmare,” Luke joked, sounding more like his dad than a little boy.
“Go away.” She buried her head under her pillow. “I worked until two in the morning, Luke. I’m tired.”
“Let’s ride today, Renie.”
“No.”
r /> “Come on, when you ride, you smile. I love it when you smile.”
“Thanks, Luke. It’s a sweet offer, but I’m tired. Maybe tomorrow?”
“You used to be the happiest person I knew. Now you’re the saddest.”
“That’s not fair, Luke. I’m not sad, I’m tired.”
“Why’re you crying then?”
Renie stayed in a room on the lowest level of the three in Ben’s house. It reminded her of her mother’s house, where Billy lived now, but it had another level.
There were two other bedrooms on the bottom floor, where Jake and Luke stayed when they were here, instead of at their mom’s. Renie stayed in Luke’s room before she went to the ranch, but when she got back, her mother had this room ready for her instead.
All three of the bedrooms had their own bathroom attached. There was also a family room on this level, complete with a big screen television, a pool table, foosball, and a ping-pong table.
The main level had another family room, along with the kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom. Her mother used the small bedroom next to the master as an office. The top floor of the house had been converted into a recording studio, conference room, and office for Ben. His band, CB Rice, had exploded in popularity in the last couple of years. The people she worked with at The Goat told a lot of stories about Ben and his brothers. Most of the things they talked about happened before Ben got sober.
It was a good reminder that most people had some kind of pain in their life, she wasn’t the only one who walked around with what felt like a gaping hole in her chest.
“Have you talked to her?” Billy asked his mom.
“Livvie, or Renie?” Dottie talked to Liv at least once a week, Billy knew that much.
“Either.”
“I talked to Liv a couple of days ago.”